Depraved Fear
by Tortoro15
Summary: Ben's knocked into a serious coma after a brutal fight and it only becomes worse when Vilgax arrives..


**Depraved Fear**

It had all happened in an instant. It was almost too fast for Rook to believe. But yet he had been there, watching the entire scene unfold like some sort of sick twisted theater. Fighting a new alien monster until Ben had gotten into the line of fire. He had been completely defenseless, trying to protect his partner, who had been crushed by a couple crates.

But it had been in complete vain once the monster had slammed him against steel poles, which had toppled over him. Rook had screamed in fear, when he saw the body of his partner being thrown in the corner of his eye. Somehow he found the energy to escape the crates and rushed over to the metal poles, trying desperately to remove them to find Ben.

But a sticky black substance wrapped around his waist and threw him back, almost taunting him for a good fight. Rook's eyes narrowed in anger as he whipped out his Proto-Tool and began attacking the monster. In a matter of minutes, he had wasted a good portion of his energy and became exhausted, while the large black spider alien was jumping in excitement.

Gathering his remaining energy, he did his best to slide underneath the dark monster and tie its legs together, which forced it to collapse to the ground. Rook took that chance to rush towards Ben's side, who still hadn't moved from the crushed steel poles. He desperately threw the poles away to find Ben.. on his stomach covered in blood.

His brain went blank and his blood ran cold. He could see a swollen bump on the sides of Ben's head, which was also the main source of blood. There was also rips all over his clothes, leading to other cuts. But his major concern was that he couldn't see Ben moving.

His first instinct was to grab him from the ground and carry him towards the Proto-Truk, which he did. The monster, who glared at Rook and Ben, hissed and growled. But he didn't pay any attention towards it, as he carefully placed Ben down on the seats and jumped into the driver's. He slammed on the gas, immediately propelling them towards the hospital. But then he paused, realizing that the hospital probably wouldn't be the best choice to bring Ben in. What was he going to tell them? He had gotten hurt by aliens? It was best for aliens to take care of Ben for now. Especially with all the advanced alien technology they were bound to have.

Rook hadn't even turned off the car when he hurriedly grabbed Ben and began rushing towards the main center of HQ. When he reached there, he was automatically pulled to the side by nearby Plumbers, who had taken in Ben's condition.

They had called for medical assistance, which had arrived in seconds. They had taken Ben, which Rook reluctantly had released, and watched as he was pushed away. Max arrived behind him and glanced over at his worried expression. "What happened?"

The Revonnahgander shook his head. "I.. I do not know."

"Why's Ben being rushed to the hospital?"

Before he could even open his mouth, his eyes blurred as he collapsed. In the distance, he could hear shouts for help but he wasn't concerned. He could already feel himself floating away.

* * *

When Rook awoke, it wasn't very pleasant. He could feel sweat dripping down his neck as he tried to focus on the ceiling. Everything spun uncontrollably and he clenched his teeth.

"Rook?" A familiar voice slowly asked.

His eyes opened and he glanced towards the direction of the voice, not surprised to find that Max was sitting beside him.

"Wha.. Where is Ben?" He mumbled, a slight slur in his voice.

Max sighed and placed a hand on his head. "I.. The doctors say it was very lucky that you managed to get to him that quick. If any longer, he would have bled out and he would have been in more serious conditions. He's.. He's not too good. He's got some internal bleeding, broke 2 ribs and his leg. He's also in the ICU at the moment with cardiac arrest."

Rook's eyes narrowing, knowing that there wasn't something that Max was saying. "Anything else that I should be concerned about?"

"No, nothing that you should be concerned about, but knowing you, it'll be bad to keep it a secret. Ben's.. in a coma, he's been like that ever since we brought him in. He's shown strong results, but still very weak considering."

"How long have I been asleep for?"

"For a couple hours. You were mentally drained from that mission. I shouldn't have sent you both after that monster. We've got it by the way, we're sending it off towards a prison that's strong enough to keep it in lock and key." Max assured.

Rook frowned and glanced over at the door. "Where is Ben? Can I see him?"

He sighed and shrugged. "If you're up for it. You aren't technically a patient, just needed some time to rest. Follow me, I'll show you where he's at."

Turns out that Ben's room wasn't far away from his own temporary one. Max knocked once and opened the door, revealing a medium sized crowd inside. Sandra and Carl, Ben's parents were already inside, taking up one side of Ben's bed.

When Rook glanced over at Ben, he couldn't help feel something drop in his gut. Ben looked so.. small, frail. The cuts round his face were all patched up, covered in regular bandages. He wore an oxygen mask, which gave him artificial air in his lungs, which chilled him to the bone. He could see a long leg thicker than the other, which probably would be his broken leg under all those thick sheets. But most importantly, he could see how _pale_ the teen seemed to be; even though the soul inside seemed so bright and cheerful.

"How is he?" Max asked, breaking Rook out of his thoughts.

Sandra glanced sadly at them and then over to her son. "I don't know. The doctors haven't said anything new on his condition. I'm getting worried."

"Don't worry honey. Ben's got that tough, stubborn Tennyson spirit. He isn't the earth's hero for nothing." Carl assured, a light hand on her shoulder. She sighed and laid her head on her son's bed, closing her eyes.

Rook glanced over at Max. "How long have I been exactly out for?"

"6 hours, I think? Why?"

"I.. I do not know." He mumbled back before dropping himself on a nearby seat. He buried his face in his hands, shuddering at the sobs escaping his throat. He had failed Ben. He had promised Magister Tennyson that he would protect him with his life.. and he had failed at that. Now Ben could be dead because of him..

Max glanced sadly at Rook before sighing and glancing over at his son and wife. They looked as mentally drained as Rook was, maybe even worse. They looked like they hadn't slept for hours, even though they had arrived a couple hours ago. Sandra had nearly fainted at the sight of her son, when they had pulled him into the room after surgery.

Thank goodness that hadn't happened.

Carl on the other hand, was blank. He hadn't talked, he hadn't moved from his spot the entire time. His eyes were just fixed on his son's death-like face the entire time.

Gwen and Kevin soon burst into the room, looking completely exhausted. Their eyes were willed with worry, just like Rook's had been before entering the room. Nobody, however, even paid them a glance, other than Max.

He smiled sadly at them before explaining the same information he had told Rook. They froze and stared at Ben before sitting beside Rook and mourning as well. He knew he would be the one to help his family try and recover from this tragedy.. even though Ben wasn't dead. But the way he looked on the hospital bed, he might as well be.

* * *

3 weeks later and the situation had gotten a whole lot worse. Ben had shown signs of improving until he managed to have a seizure every time it looked like he was recovering. He had gotten increasingly worse every time, which had worried the doctors severely. Ben's medication had been changed so that he got nearly double the amount of every drug and his bones were very, very slow to heal.

Nothing had gotten better in that time.

And when they had reached 3 weeks, the doctors had decided to limit the people spending time in Ben's room, for precaution sake. So that left only 3 people to stay in his room during the night and a limit of 5 people during the day, which honestly wasn't as bad as they had thought.

Ben had gotten skinnier, his cheekbones clearer than ever before. Sandra almost cried at how thin her son was getting and wailed when she remember when he had gone through that obese time of his life. Carl had also began losing weight, partially because he never left Ben's room for anything unless it was for the bathroom. He hadn't gone to work for 3 weeks, which wasn't bringing in any money for the Tennyson residence.

Ben's injuries had gotten a bit better too. His ribs were partially healed and his leg was still trying to heal properly. His internal bleeding had healed thankfully to the doctors relief.

So that only left him to wake up so they could find out the full extent of his injuries.

Max walked into Ben's room for the millionth time, seeing Carl and Sandra huddled around Ben's side. Carl was staring at Ben with a dead look, while Sandra was sleeping on Ben's hospital bed.

Carl's eyes glanced over at his before returning back to his son. Max frowned before walking up to his son and pulling a chair beside him. "Hey Carl."

"Hi Dad."

He frowned. "How are you? You've been doing okay right?"

"Yeah Dad. I've been doing as great as I can be." Carl mumbled.

"Son, I need to talk to you about your health. Mourning over Ben isn't doing anything good for the family. You haven't gone to work for almost a month! You need to relax and outlet this depression somewhere else because I know Ben wouldn't want to see you like this." Max explained and glanced at his grandson with sorrow. "I know you love Ben, especially since he's your only child, but you need to relax. How are you going to pay for Ben's hospital bill when the time comes? Sure your insurance can pay for a bit of it, but you're the only person working in your family. You need to be looking out for Ben and Sandra's interests."

Carl glanced over at his dad. "I don't know. What happens if something happens and I'm not here?"

"Sandra will be here to watch over Ben. She won't leave, alright? And I'm sure she'll contact you about anything that happens to Ben. You have nothing to worry about." He assured with a smile.

"Are you sure you want me to do this? I can quit if-"

"Carl. You need to start working and eating. Ben will be fine. I promise."

The man sighed before nodding. "Alright. I guess I could return tomorrow. I'd better call my boss."

"And get a steak while you're doing that. You haven't eaten a good meal for days." Max chuckled before patting his son on the back. "I know you're doing the right thing. Ben would be proud."

"Thanks." He nodded before stalking outside, phone in hand. The door shut softly leaving him and Sandra alone. He took the opportunity to take Carl's chair to sit beside his daughter-in-law. She seemed to be doing as bad as Carl, if not better. She looked thin as well, but not as thin as her husband was. He swore he could hear the slightest sniffles in her sleep, as if they were containing Ben's situation in them too.

He glanced at Ben, who's tensed in his sleep. This was one of the times, he wished he could contact or buy something alienish that would help Ben in his recovery. Maybe contacting Azmuth would help somehow..

A knock on the door followed by it opening, revealed Rook, who looked exhausted. He had clear dark bags underneath his eyes and his bright orange eyes were dulled. His perfect posture was replaced with a slumped, arduous one and he didn't pay a look towards Max. He sat down in his regular seat before returning to his regular stare at Ben.

Max had tried desperately to get Rook out of his depression with Ben but he had failed every time. Rook didn't acknowledge his presence when he went to talk and continued to stare at his injured partner. He was surprised to see that Rook returned to work the next day but every time he had free time, he traveled to the hospital to see Ben. At least Rook was trying to make things slightly return to normal.

"Have the doctors revealed anything about Ben's state?" Rook asked hollowly.

Max shook his head, not surprised by this regular question he seemed to give him every day. "No. Nothing's changed."

Rook's back hunched and he continued to stare at Ben.

Feeling the tension become thick, he walked outside, giving one last glance at Ben. He passed his son, who was chatting away with someone on his phone, but managed to wave goodbye in his direction. Max nodded and continued on towards his parked RV outside. When he got into his RV, he sat in the drivers seat before clicking a numerous amount of buttons on the console before closing all the windows and sitting in the small booth.

A hologram appeared, showing a small alien, who looked smiled. "Maxwell Tennyson. What do I owe this unexpected call?"

"Nothing that's not important. It's about Ben." Max clued in and stared at his fingers.

"Did the boy break the omnitrix again? I wouldn't be surprised. Or maybe he activated the randomizer function again?" Azmuth chuckled in amusement at his own jokes.

"No." He mumbled. "Ben's in the hospital. I don't think he'll make it.. not at the rate he's going."

The Galvan's expression dropped. "Benjamin's hurt? What happened?"

"It happened a couple weeks ago. There was a fight and Ben was serious hurt. Rook rushed him to the hospital and he was diagnosed with 2 broken ribs, a broken leg, severe internal bleeding, and he was temporarily in cardiac arrest. He's gone into it 3 times while in the hospital.. He's in a coma right now and he's not doing as well as I imagined. His bones are healing at a astonishingly slow rate too." Max rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what to do Azmuth. I can't lose my grandson."

".. yes. This wasn't a path that Paradox had predicted if I am able to recall. I.. don't know what to tell you Max." He sighed. "If you would like, I could come and see if I am able to do anything helpful. I will bring my top medics to help Ben."

"That would be greatly appreciated Azmuth. I'm worried about Ben and so are his parents.. Nobody's doing too good over here." Max sighed in relief.

The alien nodded and smiled supportively. "I'm sure Ben will pull through eventually. That boy never ceases to amaze me. I will be expecting to arrive by tomorrow morning, if that's alright."

"It's fine. Perfectly fine."

"Yes, see you soon Mr. Tennyson."

* * *

And to Azmuth's words, he had arrived promptly at 7 am in Plumber HQ. Rook and Max were the ones to take them to the hospital, slipping inside Ben's hospital room without anyone checking what they had in a metal box. Sandra and Carl were there sleeping beside their son and Max tapped his son on the shoulder. "Carl."

The man groggily awakened, his eyes unfocused to catch the newcomers. He was only able to see his father and he smiled tiredly at him. "Hey dad. Do you need anything?"

"Yes, do you mind if I have Ben for a couple hours? I have some friends that want to check and make sure Ben's alright. You can take Sandra home too and I'll call you when we're done.. Is that alright?" He asked politely. He could understand if Carl and his wife didn't want to leave but he honestly needed the time and space for the Galvans to work effiently.

Carl registered the fact that there were some small aliens on his son's bedside and he slowly nodded. "Sure. I'll get Sandra." He shook his wife, who woke up one second and fell asleep the next. He decided to carry her, since he could tell how strained she was from last night's crying session. She didn't stir the entire time and disappeared along with Carl out the door.

Max rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at Rook. "Do you want to stay as well or leave back to HQ?"

"If it is alright, I would like to stay here and watch. For Ben's concern." The Revonnahgander answered tonelessly.

The Galvans were already set to work. Medics began to check Ben's internal and external properties, scanning for any infections, cellular problems and his broken limbs. Azmuth was crouched on Max's shoulders, overseeing the entire operation and didn't hesitate to call out any medics for carelessness or forgetfulness. It wasn't until a solid two hours that they received the results.

Azmuth read over the calculations taken by his staff and sighed. "I am afraid I have bad news."

That caught the attention of everyone, especially Max and Rook.

"I've read over the papers and I've fully conducted a diagnosis. We've seen his previous injuries; 2 broken ribs, a broken leg, and cardiac arrest but we've also managed to find new ones, some completely undetectable to human technology. He has a cervical fracture and many other fractures along his spine. His head was also hit severely and we aren't sure of the fullest extent of damage to his brain. We won't find that out til he awakens and I'm sure the doctors here will be able to find out what and how to heal it. His immune system is severely weak, which can cause many problems for infection. From the impact of whatever he was slammed into, also ruptured most of his organs inside and jumbled them up. That would explain why he's having problems with his heart." Azmuth finished. There was complete silence before he decided to continue. "I'm awfully sorry Max. I wish there was more I could do. All we're able to do is give him alien medicine. Hopefully that would work on healing him. But he's critical in our definition. I'm not sure what the doctors here said but there's a small chance Ben can walk out of this fully capable. We just have to wait it out and find out."

"Isn't there anything else you can do? I mean you're the smartest beings in the universe. There has to be something else you _can_ do!" Max begged desperately, his eyes filling up with tears. "Please you have to tell me there's something else."

"I'm sorry but we're Galvans. We've never had the reason to experiment on human biology before. We just have to hope for the best. I'm sorry." He looked away before glancing at his crew. "Start packing up. I expect to leave in 5 minutes."

They nodded and rushed to clean everything up.

Rook didn't spare a look in their direction. How could they leave Ben to rot? He knew he had to be grateful that they came and helped with properly diagnosing him and all that but how could they not have more advanced medicine? It seemed so wrong for them not to be prepared for every contingency to come their way.

"I.. I understand." Max whispered and fell down onto his chair. He sobbed into his arms on Ben's bed, filled with grief. Rook felt torn to comforting his boss or just leaving him alone to suffer the fate of his grandson. He instead chose to sit beside him but not come too close.

Azmuth glanced in his direction and bowed his head in respect before vanishing in a blinding light along with the rest of the medical crew. The only sound echoing the room was the sobbing of Max and Ben's heartbeat machine, continuously beeping. That was the only thing that indeed showed Ben was truly alive.. for now.

* * *

It had been 1 month since Azmuth's diagnosis of Ben and the teen still hadn't woken up. Ben's parents were starting to get extremely worried for his condition while the doctors were surprised as well. They were sure he would wake up within a month but that had extended into 2 more weeks.

It had been 6 weeks since Rook had last seen his partner drink a smoothie.

It had been 6 weeks since he had last seen his partner change into an alien.

It had been 6 weeks since he had seen Ben move.

And those 6 weeks were torture.

Everyday that passed, he held his breath trying to see if his partner gave any indication that he would awaken. But nothing. Not a sign, not a gesture. Ben had remained immobile ever since that deadly battle. The only thing that reassured him was the strong yet soft heartbeat of his.

Rook happened to notice how long Ben's hair was becoming as well. The regular messy chocolate brown hair had grown another inch in length and now was thick and fluffy. He was also more skinnier than he was a month ago, which worried everyone other than himself. His cheekbones were extremely contoured and he could see all the veins and bones littering his body. It scared him.

The injuries Ben had gotten were the only thing that brightened the situation. Ben's ribs had fully healed and his leg was almost there. His heart problems had slowly ceased into nothing and his fractures had completely. It was just the pain of his coma that left everyone into a slight depression.

Sandra and Carl had started from being there every second of everyday to visiting their son once a day. Even Gwen, Kevin, and Max had started coming a couple hours of everyday before leaving. The only person that stayed to watch was Rook, who feared for Ben at this crucial time.

He just wanted to partner to wake up and reassure everyone that he was fine and everything was going to be fine.

It was just another night of solitude with Ben. He had started talking with Ben, hoping that the teen would hear what was happening through his subconsciousness. He filled him on his recent missions and the villains that had attacked. They seemed to come in small numbers, probably awaiting for Ben's arrival so they could fight something hard, so the land they conquered seemed worth it. He filled them on the upcoming winter weather that was approaching, obviously knowing that Ben's 17th birthday was fast approaching. Too bad he probably wouldn't be awake for it. It was snowing hard lately and he almost wasn't able to come to the hospital to see him, because of the storm.

Rook talked like they usually did, not feeling any awkwardness between talking to a silent person. He was used to it.. he knew Ben would probably do the same if he was in his shoes. Ben was that kind of person, to give his best regards and wish for a quick recovery. It was just Ben's nature. Yet he wasn't here. And he wouldn't be here for a while.

6 weeks turned into 8 weeks and it was the day of Ben's birthday. Max and Gwen thought it would be the best if they celebrated his birthday the day of, just to get everyone together for this sad event. It was her turn to celebrate it on her birthday but she decided to spare it for his sake. It seemed right.

Presents had been stacked up in the corner, more presents Gwen had ever received altogether. Some were from his family, some from hers, some from Julie and family, Argit, Ester, the list went on and on. Even some villains had sent him gifts, just for the heck of it like Dr. Animo and Attea. Everyone gathered around Ben's room, most stuck with sharing seats since there just wasn't enough for the large crowd.

Sandra and Carl had purchased a large number of cupcakes, each with a Ben 10 logo on it with a permeated candle inside. The cupcakes were mostly entirely green, for Ben's favorite color and passed around for everyone to have. Even Ben got a cupcake, which was the largest of them all. It had the words 'get better Ben!' written on it and the numbered candles '17'.

When everyone had received one, they each took turns to say something about the birthday boy. Julie had commented on the day she first met Ben and how he had been one of the nicest people she had ever met. Self-sacrificing, considerate and modest were the words she used. Ester retold the time when Ben had saved her entire village from Looma of the Red Winds and was internally grateful to be his friend. When it came to Gwen's turn, she decided to talk about how she first got the impression of Ben being a greedy, annoying little kid but grew up to be a pretty funny, intelligent, outgoing guy. She was pretty happy to know that the omnitrix landed on his wrist and not anyone else's.

When everyone had finished, they all blew out their own candles, giving wishes for Ben's ongoing recovery. Gwen took that chance to blow out his candle for him and everyone clapped in respect for the great hero.

Ben was officially 17 now.

* * *

But of course that had been 5 weeks ago and now it was 13 weeks that Ben had been entered into the hospital. Nothing had changed from those weeks ago. Ben's presents were still wrapped up, jumbled into the corner, awaiting the day he'd wake up and open them. They had started to collect dust from 1 week of them being there.

Nobody's schedule had changed. Rook was still the only person to come and see Ben while others were slowly and slowly beginning to come away from visiting Ben. Nobody wanted to see the boy's body lie there anymore doing nothing. It just wasn't natural to see it like that anymore.

It had been over 3 months when Rook last heard Ben's voice. The confident, overbearing voice that he had gotten so accustomed too. He had started to miss the smoothies from Mr. Smoothy's and the taste of chili fries as well. He had forgotten what it was like to have fun anymore. Everything was dull and boring.

Rook had slowly started to lose things to talk about, since nothing was exciting anymore. There were no villains to fight anymore, no invasions, no sight of anything. It was too boring for the Revonnahgander.

He had just grown tired of everything and settled for holding Ben's hand against his face, so he could feel the warmth radiating off Ben's skin. He ever so often, traced the patterns of the omnitrix, which hadn't been in use forever. He had forgotten what the sound was when Ben changed into and back from alien forms.

Ben was fully healed, no more wounds, no more broken bones. He was perfectly healthy. So why wasn't he waking up? Even the doctors were stumped at this.

The feel of Ben's soft skin was like silk, as he purred into his partner's touch. He was so used to his partners touched, he nearly freaked out when he felt something twitch on his check. He jumped back in his seat and scratched his cheek, thinking a bug had flew on his face. He laid Ben's hand on it again before the same unpleasant feeling occurred. He stared at Ben's fingers for the longest time before he touched them hesitantly. "Ben?"

The fingers twitched to life before slumping. Orange eyes glazed over to his partner, who had a mask of pain on his face. It looked uncomfortable and Rook was slow about touching his partner again. But before he could even move, he felt the air in his lungs freeze.

His eyelids scrunched up hard before opening slowly. Dull, glassy green eyes opened, staring straight ahead at the TV. A large groan was erupted from his dormant throat and he touched it lightly. His eyes focused on Rook's face before smiling tiredly. "R-Rook.." He whispered with clear exhaustion.

The Revonnahgander had nearly passed out at the sight. He rushed to click Ben's call light, which had a nurse rushing inside in the next 5 seconds. She had gasped before calling other nurses and doctors, who were on shift. They shooed Rook to the corner before surrounding Ben and quickly taking as many tests as they could.

When they were done, one doctor was left, ready to tell Rook the good news. He smiled with cheerfulness. "You have one tough friend. This boy's been in a coma for nearly 14 weeks and finally woke up, against all odds. We do have some bad news though. Benjamin's has a traumatic brain injury, which won't leave him disabled forever but for a while. He may need to learn everything over again, like how to eat and to talk. He may be slow for a while, but I trust you'll do what you can to help. Do you want to me to contact his family or will you?"

Rook shrugged. "I think it is better if you contacted them. I.. I would just like to talk to Ben."

"Yes, I understand." The doctor nodded before leaving, shutting the door behind him.

The Revonnahgander rushed to sit beside his partner, whom had been staring at all the strange people surrounding him. He looked to be focusing with much difficultly, since it look a considerable amount of time for Ben's eyes to sense Rook and then turn towards him. He decided to grab Ben's hand, just for the heck of actually seeing him moving after so long.

"Ben? I do not know if you can hear me, but I am very glad to see you awake. I missed you partner." Rook smiled appreciatively.

The teen's face wrinkled up, like a child blinded by the sun. Rook, for the first time, felt awkward, only receiving a small gaze from him. But after a while Ben's mouth opened, leaving Rook completely shocked.

"I missed.. you too."

* * *

It didn't take long for mostly everyone significant to Ben to arrive. Sandra and Carl had taken their spot beside Ben's bed, Rook was sitting beside him also. Max had arrived, along with Gwen and Kevin, who sat on the sofa in the corner. Julie and Ester had arrived, for the first time communicating together and not arguing. Gwen's parents had come as well with her brother, Ken.

It was pretty nice to see everyone come together for a long needed support.

"Ben? Can you hear me sweety?" Sandra asked, holding her son's hand. Carl smiled proudly and rubbed Ben's thigh, to show him that he was here for him too.

Ben took a moment but nodded. His eyes were small but you could still tell he was awake, since he every so often nodded or moved to show that he was listening to the conversation.

"I love you Ben. We've missed you forever." Carl grinned.

The teen smiled with exhaustion. Sandra frowned, able to tell that her son was getting tired. He had only been awake for around an hour and he already showed signs that he couldn't keep up with them. His eyes were sluggish and he looked like he was trying to force himself to be conscious. The mother sighed and rubbed her son's bangs softly. "Go to sleep Benny. We'll be here when you wake up."

Either Ben managed to understand her words or it was the small comforting actions she did, but he closed his eyes and his breathing began to settle. His head fell to the side and Sandra continued her ministrations on Ben's scalp. His chest rose and fell, showing her how strong he really was. He managed to fight all these injuries and still come out on top somehow. That was her son for you.

It wasn't long til everyone began to leave, giving their encouragement before departing. It soon left Sandra and Carl to tend to their son and Rook and Max talking together in the corner.

"You don't have to stay the night. Sandra and Carl are probably wanting to talk to their son alone.." Max mumbled. "You can go home and take tomorrow off, if you'd like."

Rook glanced over at Ben and nodded, deeming the situation okay for now. "I accept your terms Magister. But I will visit tomorrow regardless if you agree or not. For Ben's sake."

"Agreed." Max nodded.

* * *

The next couple of days weren't progressive as Rook had had silently wished that the teen would somehow magically mend back to normal. But to Rook's luck or maybe misfortune, he was stuck babysitting Ben alone, his parents gone home. Ben had remained in his hospital bed for days, trying his best to try and talk to his family. He had started, by the doctor's orders, to learn basic things, such as names, colors, and basic grammar.

It had been a long struggle but eventually Ben had managed to name everyone in the room, forward, backwards, and mixed all together. It had made everyone proud, especially himself. His eyes lit up with excitement when he had gotten them correct and began to grin like a maniac. Unfortunately, there was still that slur in his words.

"Roooook?" Ben smiled mischievously. "I hangry."

Rook nodded and grabbed some pudding from the fridge. It had been another wish of the doctors for Ben only to receive soft food, so his stomach could get the chance to get accustomed to something other than liquids injected into him. He grabbed a plastic spoon from the box of 200 and peeled open the container. "Here Ben." He said when he managed to grab a small portion on the corner of the spoon.

The teen opened his mouth to accept the pudding, eating it with much pleasure. He had nearly forgotten what the taste of pudding was.. wasn't there something else he used to like too?

Ben's eye turned to the small boxes in the corner of the room, which stacked up like a mountain. "Waasss that?"

Rook turned to face the presents before sighing sadly. "Those are your birthday presents. You were asleep when your birthday happened. You turned 17 and everyone was here to celebrate."

He paused for a moment, slowly choosing his words. "Cann o-pin wone?"

"Of course. Do you know who you want or do you want me to grab anything?" He asked cheerily.

"Wan jourz." He replied, his eyes full of excitement. Rook nodded and went to find his gift in the pile of others, managing to find it not too far. It wasn't fairly big like all the others, but inside what was counted. He dropped the present into Ben's hands, who looked at him expectantly. The teen struggled to open for a minute before frowning and pushing the present towards Rook. "Can oopen?"

Rook nodded and carefully unwrapped the small thin lining of paper, revealing the small case underneath. He placed the gift on Ben's lap, but still held onto it. "I was not sure when you would awaken so I got this a couple weeks after your birthday. I hope you did not mind. It was very hard to get you a gift as well."

The teen grinned and watched as he pulled off the cover, revealing a green bracelet. It was decorated with jade stones and platinum. It took a second for Ben to register the picture before he slowly touching it, feeling the soft texture. Rook smiled and grabbed it, connecting the straps together around Ben's wrist. It fit perfect, which Rook wasn't that surprised in. He had bought it in Undertown, which was known to have weird but amazing trinkets. He had asked Pakmar about any jewelry places nearby, which the small alien had replied and pointed down the street at a small stand. And when Rook had approached it, it wasn't as exciting as he imagined. But when talking to the man, whom was a great supporter of Ben Ten, decided to create the best bracelet he could craft, all free of charge. Rook had nearly disagreed, not feeling it worthy for someone else to pay for it but he knew the bracelet would be a hefty price. It had taken a month of creating but finally it was completely finished.

He was glad for Pakmar's help and the strange alien who had created it. It would be perfect for Ben.

"It is made of platinum, which is the strongest and durablest metal affordable. You can always have it on, not having to worry about it damaging in battle." Rook said proudly.

The teen lit up and laid his head down on the pillow. "Thank yoo Roook."

"Anything for you partner."

* * *

A week later, Ben had been allowed to leave the domains of his hospital room. Only with a small fee: he was forced to be in a wheelchair. Accompanying the brain damage was the unavailability to move most of his limbs, including his legs. At one time he had tried to stand, only to fall over and collapse on Rook.

Ben was unable to leave the hospital area but was able to go outside for a little while before being force back in. Rook has his guide, which he didn't find all that bad. At least he was showing signs of improvement.

The slur in his voice began to go away slowly, but was still noticeable. He had gotten better at remembering more stuff and was soon able to grab things successfully without dropping them. He could eat by himself, but needed supervision, since he had choked numerous amount of times.

The omnitrix had also been deactivated by Azmuth. The Galvan had come to visit Ben, who was loopy from all the shots he had been given earlier and decided while he was in this critical stage, Ben wouldn't be able to use the omnitrix. It wasn't that he couldn't trust him, it was just that he could accidentally turn into an alien, which would frighten the staff if they saw Four Arms sitting in a hospital bed.

Which left an ordinary Ben, defenseless to any person that attacked.. ironically that nobody had attacked while Ben laid in a hospital bed when he had been in a coma. So Rook became Ben's guardian, until he switched out with Max or Gwen. He was there most of the time, talking to Ben and reminding him of all the good times they had.

And at one point Rook even brought chili fries and smoothies for Ben, against the doctor's wishes. One tray of chili fries wouldn't kill Ben. If he hadn't died before, he certainly wouldn't die because of fried food smothered with meat sauce. He had eaten them, making obvious sounds that he enjoyed them. When he finished, he managed to lick his fingers and thank Rook for the longing meal.

Rook found himself in Ben's hospital room once again, flicking through channels on the TV. He stopped the TV on a cartoon with large people slamming into each other. Just before he could click it and continue on, Ben screamed.

The Revonnahgander jumped off his chair, falling to the ground, his eyes wide with panic. He spun around, to see any danger only to realize there was none. Ben's finger pointed to the TV and a large grin on his face.

"Soomo Slawma!" He cried out.

Then he froze, remembering the show Ben loved when he was still normal. He glanced over to the TV, which showed the large figures battling each other as his partner laughed in enjoyment. His eyes were sparkling in excitement and Rook frowned. What did Ben find so entertaining about these shows?

The answer didn't come to him as he watched Ben continue to watch the all-nighter marathon, until he fell asleep.

* * *

Rook was hardly late to anything. He hated being late in fact! The darn traffic had to slow him down from getting to the hospital and the Plumbers at HQ wouldn't let him leave until he was completely finished with his duty. But when he had finally arrived, he was already 15 minutes late. He rushed up the hallways and bolted into the elevator, with a couple other humans. He jammed his finger on the 3rd floor and they gave him a curious look before minding their own business. They all knew about Ben Tennyson's long term injury and knew about the people whom always visited him, including Rook.

The Revonnahgander paused to gather himself before the 3rd floor came into view. He rushed past many rooms and desks, earning shouts of complaints from the staff before he found himself in front of his partner's door.

He knocked once and allowed himself in, not surprised to see the doctor, Ben's parents and Max surrounding Ben. The teen was currently holding onto his bed and his dad, while giving Rook a weak smile. "Hey, I k-knew you were coming."

He nodded once before taking a seat beside Max, whom patted his back with reassurance.

The doctor went back to work, gathering Ben's statistics before nodding to himself. He wrote down every pit of information on his clipboard before moving away from the family. "Good news."

"What is it?" Carl asked.

"Ben's having a speedy recovery and soon won't be needing that wheelchair. With practice, he'll be able to walk within a week and finally move around himself. And if everything goes according to plan, he'll be released with weekly appointments so nothing's wrong." He grinned. "Congratulations."

Carl and Sandra hugged each other in celebration while Max comforted too. Rook took that chance to walk beside Ben and take a seat. The teen was smiling to himself and was jolted when he felt Rook's presence behind him. The teen sheepishly rubbed his neck. "Did you hear? I can finally g-get out of h-here."

"I have heard." The Revonnahgander chuckled. "You are getting closer to finally kicking more villain butts."

"Yeah. I can't w-wait.." Ben glanced down to his feet. "I think I forgot how to use the omnitrix too."

"I am sure you will remember. Azmuth will be excited to grant you permission to use it again." He agreed.

The teen's eyes sparkled. "You're going to help me right? W-Walking and stuff?"

"There would be nothing else that I would be more happier in doing. The first place you are walking to is Mr. Smoothy's." He chuckled along with Ben.

"Do you still think they remember me as t-their best customer?"

"No doubt."

Rook had to be impressed. The brain damage accompanying Ben's injuries was finally beginning to cease and he was slowly returning to normal. His speech had remarkably started getting better and the only problem left was stuttering. He could use his motor skills well except for his feet but everything was fine.

He had started learning basic math, reading and sciences early that week and was improving very quickly. There would be no problem in catching up in school once he was released. Gwen had even been surprised at how smart he actually was when he wasn't joking around or making sarcastic quips. She even admitted that Ben might even be smarter than her.

Once everyone had calmed down, Sandra and Carl went towards Ben's sides and helped him to his weak feet. His legs were shaky as he tried to balance himself, which was a bit easy with his parents' help. Max stood a couple feet away, holding out his hands like when you try to teach a child to walk. His eyes were filled hope and Rook couldn't help feel like this was one of the most important days he'd ever witness.

Ben's leg rose and balanced in front of the other as he took his very first step. His face lit in hope and slowly continued to take small baby steps towards his grandfather. And just as he reached halfway, his parents slowly released their grip on him, but was close enough to catch him if he fell.

And to their complete surprise, Ben continued to walk, without the help from his parents. Step by step he reached Max and fell into his arms, his laughter unable to be hidden. He was ecstatic to see that he had actually walked without any help and glanced at his parents, who beamed joyfully.

Rook grinned and clapped along with everyone else. Who knew such small events could be such an impact?

* * *

"You're leaving already? But you just got here!" Ben whined, his arms crossed.

Rook rolled his eyes and patted Ben's head. "I will be back later. Max called me to take care of something downtown. Gwen and Kevin are here with you, remember?"

"Yeah.." He huffed and looked away.

Sensing the boy's anger, Rook kneeled down and forced Ben to meet his eyes. "I will be back with chili fries and your favorite smoothie, alright? Then we can watch as many Sumo Slammer movies as you want."

Ben sighed and nodded. "Fine."

The Revonnahgander smiled in satisfaction and waved goodbye to Gwen and Kevin, who were talking together. Gwen got up to talk to Ben and Kevin decided to sit and watch the news. The door was soon shut by him and he scratched his head and hurried off towards Max.

When he arrived at Max's destination, he was surprised to see Psyphon blasting nearby citizens who were screaming in panic. They rushed off to hide from the oncoming threat, glad to see the Plumbers arriving.

There were 3 tanks belonging to the intergalactic police, along with Rook's Proto-Truk. The Revonnahgander rushed towards his boss, his weapon ready. "What is going on?"

"Psyphon. He's just attacking people but hasn't actually hit one.. I feel like there's more stuff than he's letting on." Max mumbled and pushed Rook down behind a flipped car. "How's Ben?"

"Fine. Gwen and Kevin are there watching him." Rook replied back.

A blast barely missed Max's head and he managed to duck just in time. The man grumbled and glanced over at the other huddled Plumbers. "Why would Psyphon be attacking for no reason? There's always a reason behind attacks like this."

"Maybe he is trying to cause reckless damage?" He suggested.

"Or trying to lure us away from something else."

"But what would he try and lure us away from?"

They both looked at each other and came up with the same thing. "Ben."

"Clever little Plumbers. You certainly take a while to get a plan." Psyphon interrupted, appearing on top of the car. "Though I certainly expected more from you Tennyson."

"What do you want with Ben?" Max demanded, his gun ready to shoot.

"In his current state, I could do anything with him and he'd be forced to comply. Especially since his little omnitrix is locked and he'll be unable to fight back." The alien grinned. "My associate is currently working out the other part of our plan."

"Associate? Is it one of your lackies?"

"Heavens no! It's someone I trust with my own life."

"..Vilgax."

"Indeed you are." Psyphon chuckled darkly. "Too bad you'll be too late to save little Tennyson from what's coming."

"Rook." The Revonnahgander perked up. "Get to Ben. Now. Do whatever it takes to save him understand? Anything." Max's eyes were filled with worry. This wasn't one of their ordinary missions. This was the real deal. Life or death.

He nodded and darted off towards his ride, hurriedly starting the engine and taking off. The truck transformed into the ship and took off into the sky.

Max frowned, feeling something was off. "Why didn't you try and stop him? You let him go."

"Only for the Revonnahgander to see the last of his little partner." Psyphon smirked. "And I suggest you go after them as well. This might be the last chance you'll ever see your grandson again."

His eyes widened and he hurried towards the hospital, not caring that it was a couple miles away. He didn't even bother taking a car to ride there with. He just needed to get now.

The rest of the Plumbers watched their leader rush away before realizing the threat had started attacking again. Psyphon's robots appeared out of the blue and began blasting everything.

* * *

Gwen sighed and sat beside her boyfriend. Ben had nodded off a couple minutes ago, feeling a bit dizzy and tired. Her tired green eyes met with his dark ones and they leaned up to give each other a kiss before an explosion rocked the room. She managed to fall of Kevin onto the sofa, while he fell onto the ground with a thud. His head hit the floor hard and he groaned in pain, rubbing the sensitive area. Things rocked around the room, the unused heart monitor falling on the floor. Paintings fell off the wall and the TV had churned forward, breaking on contact with the floor. "What was that?"

"I don't know." She replied back and cautiously approached the window, trying to see anything. Kevin rushed to the door and froze.

"Gwen. Come here.. now." She hurried to him and felt her blood run cold at the immense damage. The middle 3rd floor and up had been demolished, a large crater in the middle. The rest of the floor in front of her looked almost unrecognizable as the nurse desk had been cut in half, half of it alright with the other smashed into pieces. The rest of the floor looked as nasty as theirs.

Kevin pushed her back in and shut the door, locking it with his metal ability. He glanced over at Ben, whom had no idea at the state of the hospital. "We need to get Ben out of here. He isn't safe here and from whatever's coming."

"How do you know something's coming?" She asked with fear.

"Look at the hospital, Gwen? Nothing normal can make that. Someone's after Ben and whatever's at downtown with Rook and your grandfather is probably trying to divert their attention from here." Kevin explained and bent beside Ben, lifting him up bridal style. Other than the standard hospital gown Ben wore, he was only dressed in his green boxers. "We need to get him out of here. You think you can make a portal?"

"You won't have time for that fools." The door of room had fingers embedded in them as it was ripped of it's hinges. A large figure managed to step inside and growl at the two of them. "Hand over Tennyson."

"No way, Squid-face." Kevin's face wrinkled up.

Gwen stood beside him, watching as Vilgax scanned the room. He chuckled. "You two cannot defeat me. Without Tennyson you both are useless and pathetic. Now hand over the boy or else."

"No!" She screamed as she launched a series of mana blasts in his face. Kevin took that chance to bolt out of the room, heading towards the stairs. The hallway was luckily still intact and was good enough to travel without collapsing the entire floor. Gwen followed behind too, protecting Kevin and Ben from Vilgax's wrath.

The large alien charged after them, shooting bolts of red energy in their direction. He managed to get a shot on Gwen's leg, forcing her to fall from the pain. That left the other two males, who were currently defenseless.

Vilgax stopped running and steadied his shot, perfectly hitting the teen in the back. Kevin tripped over his own feet and dropped, Ben sliding across the floor. Kevin's eyes were wide with panic as he heard hard footsteps approaching them. He did his best to crawl near his girlfriend's cousin only to realize it was hopeless when Vilgax picked him up by his foot. The alien chuckled and whispered in his hear. "Good try Levin."

He dropped him, wanting the elder to see what would happen with Tennyson. He walked over him and headed towards the unconscious boy, pushing him so his back was on floor. His head rolled to the side uselessly as the alien grinned. He dug his sharp nails into his stomach, not deep enough to actually hurt him.

Vilgax paused and looked over at Levin, who was trying desperately to get up and protect his best friend. His eyes were frantic, knowing the large alien wouldn't make Ben survive this. Ben had caused him too much trouble to be alive any longer. And at his state, Ben was as good as dead..

"Enjoy the show."

His razor sharp nails, dug into Ben's abdomen, tearing through the thin layer of cloth. Ben instinctively screamed out in pain, his eyes clenched shut. He moved around only to realize that it wasn't helping and just causing him more pain. His eyes shot open as he tried to make out what was hurting him. Vilgax's cruel looking face greeted him and he froze.

He wasn't sure if it was the pain or just Vilgax above him, but he screamed loudly, trying his best to get rid of the pain. Just as the alien was going to plunge further into the small human body, an unseen force managed to pull him off Ben and shove him into the other wall.

Rook landed softly on the ground, his eyes narrowed at Vilgax. He glanced over to Kevin and pointed to Ben. "Hurry! Get Ben and Gwen out of here now. Get him somewhere that they will not find him."

Gwen managed to get to her feet and rush over to her boyfriend, helping him up. They traveled to Ben and got a hold of him before Gwen's eyes glowed pink. They soon vanished in a bright pink orb, disappearing from view, leaving Rook to battle Vilgax.

The large squid monster rose from his time of rest and glanced around. "Where's Tennyson!?"

"Gone." Rook replied back. "You are not going to find him for as long as the Plumbers live."

"I doubt that, Revonnahgander." He snarled before sprinting head on towards him.

* * *

Gwen and the gang reappeared a moment later, falling onto the ground. When she managed to get up, she realized they were at the place she had expected: Mr. Baumann's store. Kevin grabbed a hold of Ben and lifted him up, glancing at their surroundings. "You teleported us here?"

She nodded. "This was the best place for us to get supplies and hide. Plus we know Mr. Baumann and I'm sure he'll help us at the moment. C'mon, let's go find him."

"No need to do that." A voice spoke up, walking into the clearing. Thankfully it was Mr. Baumann, who looked somewhat shaken up. His eyes glanced over at Ben, who was streaked with a large amount of blood. "Is that Ben? I thought he was in the hospital?"

"_Was_ in the hospital. Vilgax attacked, trying to get to him." Gwen mumbled. "Do you think we can stay here? We have nowhere else to go without him finding us. Plus, Ben's not good for another teleportation."

"Yes. Yes, of course!" He nodded and hurried to his backroom, opening the door. Inside was a small room, with a little cot in the corner and a table with four chairs. Kevin laid Ben on the cot, before realizing his hands were covered in blood. Mr. Baumann sensed Kevin's fear and pulled out a first aid kit from a box. "Here. I'm not sure what's exactly in it but I'm sure it'll help somehow. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask.. I'm sorry about Ben. I never thought he'd get hurt when he was in the hospital.. has he finished healing?"

Gwen shook her head. "No.. he was due to leave the hospital in a week though. He was learning how to walk.."

"Oh.. I apologize once again." The man mumbled before walking out.

Kevin started to open up the kit and pulled a chair near him, so he could work quickly. Just as he imagined, there were deep holes around his body, still bleeding profusely. He managed to stop the bleeding and then wrap Ben's torso in a numerous amount of bandages. When he finished, Ben laid completely naked on the cot except for the boxers he wore.

A couple of seconds later, Ben's eyes twitched painfully and he opened them. His eyes blinked a couple times before he groaned and sat up, only to lay back down when he felt pain erupt. He glanced down at his chest before looking over at Kevin and Gwen. "What.. happened?"

"Vilgax.." Gwen mumbled. "He destroyed half the hospital and got into our room. Kevin manged to escape with you but he eventually caught up with you and him. He tried to stab you to death or something.. but Rook managed to come and save your life."

Ben looked around. "Where's Rook?"

"Fighting Vilgax."

He froze. "No, he can't be. Rook can't fight him."

"He is.. as much as I'd like to check up on him, we can't. We need to worry about your safety. Vilgax is going to look for you and with your condition, you aren't able to do anything but sitting tight." Gwen explained softly.

"Yeah, so don't think you can do anything." Kevin added. "You're grounded at the moment."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Ben crossed his arms. "Vilgax is my problem. You don't need to be fighting him for me. I can do it myself."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "You couldn't walk out of here by yourself. Stop thinking you can do anything to beat him."

"I can. I'm Ben Tennyson, hero of the universe. I can beat Vilgax again, even like this." Ben argued and stood up, only to feel his chest squeeze in pain. He touched his chest gingerly before falling onto the ground. Kevin managed to catch him and set him back on the cot.

"Told ya." The teen gave a look of malice at Kevin and pouted. "Not gonna work Tennyson. Your cousin's given me that look so many times, I'm immune."

Ben huffed and glanced over at his cousin, who was staring at the door. "Gwen?"

Her head dropped and she glanced over at him with worried green eyes. "Grandpa is missing too. That's my biggest concern."

"What about the other people in the hospital who are dead because of me?" Ben muttered and squeezed his eyes shut. "They died immediately and it's all because of me. I'm a murderer."

"Ben, you didn't commit any homicide. Stop thinking all of this okay? You need to worry about getting better okay?" She argued back.

The teen shook his head. "I can't. Gwen, you can't ignore this epidemic. Vilgax is going to kill everyone to find me. He'll kill my family, your family, everyone. We need to do something!"

"The only thing we can do is protect you from doing something stupid." Gwen blankly answered back.

"Do you think you would sit and do nothing if you were in my shoes? I know you know that if we don't do something now, everything's doing downhill. If I can't at least do something, can you?" Ben pleaded desperately. "Find Max and Rook."

Gwen shook her head and moved her view from her cousin. He was crazy! How could she just leave him here alone? He was going to get caught and be defenseless if they left. Mr. Baumann would be weak against Vilgax! Rook didn't blindly sacrifice himself for them to get caught the next second they went out. They had to be kept hidden or else everything would be pointless.

"No Ben." She started, meeting his gaze. "You're staying right here and doing nothing. That's my final answer."

"But-"

"No buts. If you try anything Ben, you're going to regret it. Understood."

Ben's back hunched. "Understood."

Gwen turned to Kevin. "Go check if Mr. Baumann can spare any food. I'll watch Ben."

Her boyfriend nodded and rushed out, trying to avoid the thick tension between the two cousins. She turned to face her younger cousin, only to realize he was still greatly upset. She sighed in defeat and went over to take a seat beside him. "Ben, listen. Kevin and I are only trying to protect you. We want to know what happened out there too and what happened to Rook and Grandpa Max but we can't. We need to focus on healing you before you can go out and kick butt. Just wait til you get better okay?"

He huffed. "Fine. I still don't like this plan of yours. Can't you do something?"

"If Vilgax or Psyphon find us, they'll track us and we'll accidentally lead them to you. We can't get you into any unnecessary danger. Just until you're fully healed."

He didn't answer and decided to return to sleep. Maybe that would clear his mind from this craziness.

* * *

Rook dodged the lasers and managed to roll to a safe distance. His eyes never left the unpredictable alien monster, as he allowed the clearing to settle before once again attacking.

Vilgax growled. "You are an annoying pest, Revonnahgander. How you even manage to match up against me is preposterous. Give in." His sword was taken off his latch on his back and he swung it towards Rook. He gasped and moved out of the way, the glowing sword meters away from his body.

He back flipped away from the alien and panted out in exhaustion. He couldn't handle much longer of this but he didn't want to give in into Vilgax's demands, knowing it would be his demise. He just need a chance to escape so he could be free of him.

"Get away from my best recruit!" Max cried out as he blasted the large monster. He rushed over to Rook, who was curled around himself. He perked up at the voice and nearly chocked on tears.

"Magister! Thank goodness!"

He gave a sly grin. "C'mon, we have to get out of here."

"Tennyson! Where's your grandson?" Vilgax growled out in anger. "When I find him, I shall tear his heart in half."

"Keep your slimy tentacles off my grandson! You'll never get near him." Max warned before shooting more shots in his direction before grabbing Rook's forearm and dragging him towards the broken windows.

Rook's instinct told him to panic. "What are we doing?!"

"No time to explain. Just jump!" He yelled out before diving down the hospital. Rook didn't have time to think as he heard Vilgax's footsteps approaching him and he forced himself to dive right after the elder man. He had expected a hard landing with the concrete before realizing there were men on ground level, having trampolines for safe falling. Rook sighed out in relief before noticing the threat wasn't over.

Max was in the corner of his eye, who was running and trying to guide Rook towards their destination. An angry Vilgax roared before jumping onto the road. It erupted like a earthquake and began to spread everywhere, destroying the roads, cars and attacking the people on the ground.

When Max and Rook reached a safe spot, they both breathed heavily. Max quickly spotted an empty warehouse and grabbed Rook's arm, forcing him to follow. Once they were inside, Max locked the door and glanced out the window. "We're safe.. for now."

"Yes. Thank you for helping him back at the hospital. I was not sure if I was going to make it out alive with Vilgax still there." Rook sighed, rubbed his forehead.

"Do you know where Ben is? Or Kevin and Gwen?" Max asked with worry.

Rook smiled. "They are safe. Though I do not know about Ben's condition at the moment. He was nearly stabbed to death by Vilgax but Kevin and Gwen managed to get him out while I distracted Vilgax. I do not know of their exact location, but I do know they are fine."

"Thank goodness. Now let's work on finding a way out of here and head towards HQ."

"What about Ben's family? Surely they will try and head there to find Ben." Rook asked with confusion.

Max waved his hand. "Fine, I called them while I was getting to the hospital. They evacuated along with Gwen's family. Now can we stop talking about family and get out of here? We might not even see anyone if we keep on chatting."

"Yes Magister." Rook agreed.

* * *

"Ben?" Kevin called out, walking into the small room. He sheepishly cowered, realizing he was asleep in the corner. He put the plate of food on the counter before softly patting Ben awake. "Wake up Sleeping Beauty. You gotta eat."

Ben groaned in annoyance before shoving the teen away. "I don't wanna eat. Leave me alone."

"Gwen said you gotta eat. You haven't eaten since breakfast and it's almost dinner. You've been asleep for a couple hours." He muttered before tilting the bed over. Ben came spilling over the edge, his back slamming into the ground. He glared at Kevin with malice eyes before managing to sit up.

"You know I'm still injured and I can't walk right?"

"How could I forget?"

"You've gotta help me to the table if you want me to eat."

Kevin grumbled. "Fine." His arms hoisted the small teen into the air, before carefully guiding him towards the small table in the middle. He pushed him in afterwards and nudged the food into his direction. "Eat up. Gwen told me not to get you anything gruesome so I managed to get some mashed potatoes with some gravy. It isn't a five-star meal but it was the best I could get you. You still need to only eat soft foods."

Ben rolled his eyes and picked up his spoon, gathering a decent amount and stuffing his face. Kevin's face wrinkled in disgust as he watched him eat, nearly feeling sick to his stomach. He shot up from his chair and excused himself, walking back out to see Gwen.

The teen grinned in success and continued to enjoy his little meal. He heard whispers from outside the door and frowned, noticing it was his cousin and Kevin chatting.

He glanced down at the base of his feet, knowing he couldn't walk far without collapsing from inexperience and weakness. He breathed and held the table, forcing his feet to become stiff and slowly take baby steps. Each step was torture for his legs, as they screamed in his head. Eventually he made it to the end of the table and stared at the wall in desperation. He couldn't make it without collapsing onto the floor and he wanted to prevent that from happening. Gwen and Kevin couldn't know he was walking.

He breathed in and cautiously took a step, letting go of the table in the process. Only to realize that he had miscalculated, his legs shaking dangerously. Ben fell onto the ground, a loud thud giving away of his position. Gwen and Kevin hurried in, eyes wide.

"Ben!" Gwen scolded, picking him up and pushing him back onto the cot. "Why were you trying to walk? You know you aren't ready to do that without supervision!"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to see you guys. I don't like staying cooped up in here alone."

"Then I'll stay here with you."

Ben grumbled. "No.. I wanna go out there. What's happening?"

Gwen glanced over to her boyfriend before sighing. "It's not looking too good out there, Ben. The hospital was entirely leveled, killing nearly everyone inside. Only a lucky few were able to escape.. Vilgax and Psyphon are still out there destroying everything to find you too. Max and Rook are still unaccounted for."

"Can't you track them?" He said desperately.

She shook her head. "Not without something to track them with. I'm only a pro at tracking you because you always get into trouble."

The teen rolled his eyes and pouted. "Can't you go looking for them? It's Grandpa, Gwen!"

"I know! And as much as I'd like to go hunting for him, I can't knowing you'll do something stupid including the fact that Vilgax might track us and get to you!" Gwen yelled out. She put her hands on her hips and gave a stern face. "I can't leave and that's final."

"I never thought you could be so cold." Ben muttered before laying down and facing the wall.

Her expression dropped and she touched his shoulder lightly. "Ben?"

He didn't answer but swatted her hand away and got the blankets to cover his face. She huffed and got up, stomping outside. Kevin frowned and glanced over to her girlfriend's cousin before following after her.

* * *

Max arrived into his son's house, glad to see that nobody was home. Thankfully his son had taken his warning and had taken off. Though it had taken several minutes to persuade him that Ben would be alright, even though they didn't know of Ben's whereabouts at the moment.

He collapsed onto the sofa, the task on their hands completely arduous. How were they going to find Ben when they didn't even know of his location? The omnitrix was locked out, meaning it was completely untraceable. Maybe he could call Azmuth and ask him to activate it..?

"Magister?" Rook called out. The man slowly pushed himself off the sofa and headed towards the kitchen. The Revonnahgander seemed a bit confident and pulled up a note. It was from Sandra, written in her messy handwriting which told them she was hurrying to write this down, in hopes that they would see it.

"What is it?" He asked and took the note. His eyes scanned it before he smiled in relief. "Finally a lead! Let's go, Rook."

He nodded and rushed out of the house.

* * *

It took them no time to reach their destination, a large store filled with various alien goods. He had forgotten the last time he had visited this place in hopes to get fresh produce from other planets. When they came slowly through the entrance, the store owner was clearly visible, talking to some aliens.

When he had finished, his eyes automatically rose to meet their gaze and his eyes widened.

"Maxwell? Is that you?" He mumbled. "I haven't seen you in years!"

Max smiled softly and walked up to the stand. "Same to you Mr. Baumann. But I have pressing matters at hand. Have you seen my grandchildren? I got a note from Ben's mother on their whereabouts and it led me here."

"Yes, I've been keeping a watch on them ever since they arrived a couple hours ago. However, Ben's not looking too good. The wound on his chest, last time I checked, was still bleeding and I heard a couple minutes ago he's starting to run a fever. The boy needs medicine." He informed sadly. "I can show you where they are. They'll be thrilled to see you."

He urged them to follow him, leading them to his backroom and then into a private sector of it. Eventually they found themselves at a peeling brown door and he knocked on it gently. "Gwen? Are you in there?"

The door opened, revealing her sweaty and worried face, lighting up when she saw her grandfather. "Grandpa!" She opened it all the way and tackled him in a hug. "We've been worried sick about you and Rook!"

"Same to you pumpkin. Care to let us inside?" He asked kindly. She nodded and allowed them in to the small room.

Kevin had pulled up a chair beside Ben's cot, placing cold towels around his body. The elder was obviously tired and stressed and this work wasn't making it any better. He took notice of the visitors and finished putting the towels on Ben's body, before turning around to greet them. "Good to see you guys made it."

Max ignored Kevin's greeting and walked over to his grandson. "What's wrong with him?"

The ruffian sighed. "I think an infection's already started to grow. He's been like this for an hour and his temperature is off the charts since then. We can't do anything but try and put cold towels on him to lower his body temp. But it's not working. We need some medicine to help him but we can't go out in broad daylight like this. Vilgax is going to find him eventually and we have to be ready."

"What kind of medicine do you think Ben would need?" Rook asked.

"Something to kill infections in the bloodstream." He said before returning back to work on the small teen. Hacking brought them all back to the source of their problems, Ben. He was bent over on the cot, his breathing irregular and his eyes wide. He covered his mouth in warning and Kevin immediately reacted, reaching under the cot and bringing out a red bucket. The teen took that chance to vomit as much as he could stand before falling back onto the pillows.

"We need medicine now." Gwen whispered, shuddering at all the vomited mashed potatoes Ben had thrown up. He had eaten less than an hour ago but stopped when he started feeling uneasy stomach aches. "I don't know if he'll last into tomorrow at his state. A couple hours ago he was perfectly fine and now this."

"He doesn't need medicine Gwen. He needs a doctor." Max diagnosed with a clenched expression. He hated seeing his children and grandchildren in serious harm. Even though Ben usually did that often, it wasn't good to see him so.. vulnerable.

"How are we suppose to get a doctor? Most of the doctors at the hospital were killed, along with all the patients!" Gwen nearly sobbed. "And even if there was a doctor that wasn't killed there, they would have evacuated along with everyone else."

"There has to be something we can do." Kevin said hopelessly.

"I think I might have a plan." Mr. Baumann offered. Everyone perked up and the man sighed. "We could take him down to Undertown, find someone that's a doctor there. There's bound to be an alien doctor that could help with his condition."

Max smiled triumphantly. "That just might work. You still have a way to get there?"

"Of course, I have deliveries to make still! The humans here might flee from the source but the aliens take much more persuasion to leave. We'll find a way to get Ben there safely. I have an extra truck you can take."

"Thank you Mr. Baumann. I don't know how I can repay you for all of this." The men shook hands and Max glanced over to the children. "Start packing up Ben. We leave in an hour."

* * *

Everything was easy except for the task of moving Ben into the car without causing him any discomfort. He whimpered in pain and clung to himself, trying a way to lesson it. Gwen had to move him with a mana board and carefully carried him into the back of the truck, which had been arranged to make a bed. And as safely as they could without bothering Ben, they all crammed into the back, with Mr. Baumann driving towards Undertown. He was the only safe option that wouldn't get them killed.

Once they had reached the underground city, they were surprised to see it half abandoned. The town full of life was now forced into hiding, with small merchants, selling produce and goods.

Mr. Baumann expertly drove the vehicle to a more private and excluded part of town. He parked on the side of the road and scanned around before turning around to face them. "I'm going to go check around. If I'm correct, there should be one doctor here okay to help Ben."

And in less than 5 minutes, the door to the trunk clicked open. He nodded and glanced at Ben. "Hurry, there isn't anyone in the street so we'd better get inside quickly."

They were quick to assist the omnitrix wielder and carefully transferred him from truck to home. A green looking humanoid alien scanned him before pulling off the wound on Ben's abdomen. He frowned deeply and covered it back up, running a couple more tests before glancing over at the visitors. "The wound and surrounding parts have swelled up drastically. His face is also starting to blue up a bit, probably from the lack of oxygen he's able to breathe in, hence why he's hyperventilating. My guess is that his condition is sepsis and it's almost to the point of being life threatening."

"Sepsis?" Kevin mumbled dumbly.

Gwen froze. "Blood poisoning."

"Correct. His lungs are becoming overused and tired that eventually they're going to give in. He's also experienced a drop in blood pressure, which is very dangerous for a person in his condition." He explained. "I apologize that I haven't introduced myself. My name is Dr. Sylleis and I'm one of the doctors in Undertown. Most everyone left once they had heard Vilgax had arrived but I had stayed to help anyone in need, humans or aliens. I'm very fortunate to have stayed."

Max smiled. "We can't thank you enough for your help. Is there anything you can do to help Ben?"

"We just need to give him the proper nutrients so his body can do it's own repairing. If I remember right, he should be fine within a week." He finished. "If someone could give me a hand so I can start prepping Benjamin."

Kevin got up and lifted his best friend from the bed, following after the doctor.

Gwen sighed and glanced to her grandfather. "So what do we do now? Wait for Ben to recover?"

"That's all we can do at the moment. We can't leave without Ben."

* * *

5 days had passed and Ben had made remarkable progress. The swell on his torso disappeared and he had regained consciousness the next day. Ben was grateful for all the help from his friends and apologized to Gwen about what had happened at Mr. Baumann's. She had waved it off, planting a kiss on her cousin's cheek.

But one thing that had bothered Ben for days was the fact that he still couldn't walk on his own two feet. He had been diagnosed by the doctor in Bellwood that he could walk but after his latest accident, he wasn't even sure anymore. But Dr. Sylleis had informed him that he could walk anytime he wanted as long as there was supervision.

From that day, Ben became determined to at least take a couple steps, no matter if it was too painful for him. He was going to walk.

Gwen had seen her cousin wince every time he tried to stand, his two legs to the point of collapsing. She knew saying something to Ben about it would only be ignored so she just continued to watch as he silently tried to perform the chronic deed.

But she had put her foot down when he blindly continued to get up and walk, falling down each time from exhaustion.

"Ben, you need to stop! Forcing yourself to walk won't help you to heal yourself. You're just gonna open your wounds or something!" Gwen scolded, picking up her cousin and depositing him on the bed. "Please just stop."

He shook his head stubbornly. "No, I can't. I won't stop until I take some steps. I'm not letting Vilgax take over earth just because I can't walk." He got off the bed but fell onto the ground a second later. "Dammit!"

"If you keep hurting yourself, you'll never defeat Vilgax!" She fumed. "You're going to kill yourself if you keep doing this and Vilgax won't even have to fight you to know he won." Ben's arms crossed against his chest and he looked away, refusing to make eye contact with her. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Ben, I didn't mean it. I-"

"You're right."

She froze for a second, eyes wide at what her cousin had said.

"I can't defeat Vilgax if I keep doing this.. but I just want to walk.. I don't want to feel useless anymore. I don't want other people to keep taking care of me.. I'm 17.. I don't want to feel handicapped anymore." Ben admitted reluctantly. "I don't know what to do.."

She kneeled down so that she was the same height as him and lifted up his chin. He stared at her with hopeless eyes, full of devastation and confused anger. Her fingers wrapped around his solid shoulders. "You're one of the strongest people I know Ben. You're patient, trusting, innocent. Everyone goes through the same things you're going through. You just need to wait for the right time."

He shuddered and nodded, getting up with help from his cousin. He sat back on the bed and laid down, his eyes shutting. Gwen turned around, feeling somewhat awkward but stopped in her tracks when her cousin mumbled one last thing.

"Thanks Gwen.. you're the best."

* * *

Ben had gotten used the fact that he may not walk for while, since he had requested a wheelchair the next day. Luckily Dr. Sylleis had a spare chair in storage and didn't waste a second to retrieve it for him.

Max, Kevin, Rook and Gwen had began to get feisty, since they had been cooped up in Dr. Sylleis's house for days. Mr. Baumann had returned back to Bellwood, since he still had a store to keep up. Some of the money the man managed to receive went to Ben's bills for Dr. Sylleis's services. But he still managed to come down once in a while to see how things were doing.

Mr. Baumann walked through the door and smiled at Max, who was playing cards with Kevin and Gwen. "Hey Max."

"Mr. Baumann!" Max greeted with a cheery smile. "You're just in time to join in a new round of cards? You up for it?"

"You're on."

5 minutes later, Ben wheeled himself in, aiming towards the pantry, which had been stocked with food for everyone. He grabbed a family size bag of chips, ripping it open and devouring it.

"I see you're doing better Ben.. I like your wheelchair." Mr. Baumann commented. He was surprised that Ben had given up trying to walk and instead settled for a chair so he could maneuver himself around.

The teen tried to smile, but his mouth was filled up with chips that it looked somewhat evil and stupid. He quickly tried to chew through the chips in his mouth. "Sorry." He coughed, the salt of the chips sucking up all the moisture from his throat. "I was hungry and came over here. And thanks Mr. Baumann. How's your store? Still in one piece?"

The man frowned, feeling familiar stress erupting in his thoughts. "Still in once piece.. for now."

Ben chuckled and grabbed more chips. "Well see you later." He rolled himself to his temporary room, where Rook was fiddling with his Proto-Tool. He muttered under his breath as he observed the marks and dents littering his weapon. He set it down on the counter and smiled when he took notice of Ben.

"That was indeed quick. You are getting remarkably faster on that then you were ever on your feet." Rook added with a sly grin.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. That was so funny." He held out the chips to Rook. "I got some if you want."

He shook his head. "I do not care if the world can end at any moment. I will not rupture my body by placing unhealthy food such as a 'potato chip' in my mouth."

The teen shrugged. "More for me." He proved his point by pointing the end of the bag into his mouth, pouring even more chips into his filled mouth.

Rook shuddered and lowered his head. "I can now understand why Galvans have placed your species below on the intelligence scale. You lack any decency for yourself and poison yourself with these 'fatty' foods."

Ben swallowed and put the bag of chips on his lap. "Rook.. sometimes we just do this to have fun and let go. Every species is different and we have different lifestyles. I thought you most of all would understand that."

"I just do not understand why you would eat those. You are trying to heal in your critical state. Eating those abominations will not help you in any manner. I do not want to see you hurt anymore and just wish the best for you. Why can you not comprehend that?" Rook growled out, setting down his tool.

The teen froze, glancing down at his lap. "I just.. want to get my find off what's been happening lately. I know I'm supposed to be 'strong' but I just can't help it. I can't even walk yet.. I don't give a crap about my health at the moment, okay?"

The Revonnahgander's hardened gaze softened and he sighed. "Ben, you know I did not mean it. I just do not want you to be so depressed. I know you enough, that you will not let such a small thing as walking push you down."

Ben glanced up and smiled, punching his partner on the arm. "Thanks fuzzball." He threw the bag of chips on the counter and strolled over to the mattress they had been given together. Sensing what Ben was trying to do, Rook was quick to appear by his side and helped him off the wheelchair onto the bed.

Rook busied himself by folding away Ben's wheelchair and storing it in the corner. The next time he looked at Ben, the teen was fast asleep, under the thin covers. Rook smiled softly and decided to go underneath the covers as well, as a way to warm up Ben, though he sat up, toying with his Proto-Tool.

* * *

"Rook... Rook!" Gwen's panicked screams cut into Rook's own dreams and he woke up, nearly startled to death. He focused on her face before it cleared out. "Rook, come on big guy. We need you!"

"What?" He sat up and glanced at her. "What is wrong?"

"Ben."

Rook didn't even need to glance over his shoulder to know that Ben was indeed missing. His eyes were wide with fear as he heard noise from outside. "What happened?"

Gwen sniffled and wiped a tear away. "Septic shock. We thought he was getting better, but he wasn't. He was getting worse and worse."

The Revonnahgander jumped out of bed and got to his feet, his Proto-Tool forgotten. He paid Gwen no mind as he heard the constant screaming from down the hall and rushed to the source. When he busted into the room, he found Ben on a new bed, spazzing out and flaring wildly. Max, Kevin and Mr. Baumann attempted to hold the teen down, which was considerably hard. Dr. Sylleis grabbed medical equipment from storage and began to prep needles and etc for use.

"Ben?" Rook numbly whispered.

Max looked up and looked at him with frightened eyes. "Rook, thank goodness you're here. Help the doctor quick, I don't know how much more we can take."

He nodded and hurried to the doctor, who pulled out a white liquid and sucked out its contents into the needle. Dr. Sylleis began heading towards Ben when Rook halted the doctor. "What is that?"

"Anesthesia. We can't have Mr. Tennyson like this if we're going to help him. If you could be any assistance, could you hold any arm down steadily so I can have a more accurate shot?" He asked. Rook did as he asked and held down the arm that Max was currently trying to fight. In a couple of seconds, Ben relaxed but whimpered in pain as he rolled to the side.

"Magister.. I do not understand what is happening." Rook whispered, watching as Ben fell unconscious.

"I wasn't sure how you couldn't have heard it. Ben was screaming beside you when we walked in. He was.. Dr. Sylleis said that this was a possibility but with all the progress Ben was making in the last couple of days I wasn't sure if it was a chance anymore. He's entered septic shock within the last 10 minutes. We heard him hyperventilating beside you, which was probably his lungs failing and his body started to find another way to survive." Max explained, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his forearm. "I don't know what Dr. Sylleis is planning to do."

Rook sat back as the doctor began to work, strapping a face mask over Ben's relaxed face. He began to cut off Ben's shirt and pulled away his pants, leaving him only in boxers.

"Dr. Sylleis, what are you planning to do with Ben?"

"If I know septic shock well enough, its caused by organ failure in his system. His blood pressure is declining very low and rapidly. If I do not do something quick enough, Ben will die by lung failure and heart damage." He explained, before pulling out a box of medical tools. Rook picked out a scalpel from the tool box and shuddered.

"Is this necessary? Surely there must be another way to lure Ben out of septic shock." Rook pushed, watching as the doctor applied alcohol to the location he was going to cut into.

Dr. Sylleis sighed. "It is the only way or surely I would not resort to such a thing. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to all step out of the room. Only Max will be permitted to stay with me to oversee and assist in the operation."

"But-" He felt a tug on his arm and was yanked back by Kevin.

"C'mon big fella. Don't argue with the doctor, especially not now. Ben needs you." He reminded but only received a fight instead.

"No, I must stay with Ben! I-" He pulled himself free from the osmosian's grip only to get pushed back by Max, himself.

"Rook! Calm down, now's not the time for this!" The man grumbled. They couldn't lose time from a stupid fight. Every second was ticking for Ben! "Listen to me, Ben's going to be fine, you need to stay outside. We can't have so many people during the operation."

"But Ben needs me! I have to stay with him. Let go of me!" With Kevin and Max pulling Rook out into the hallway, they managed to send him far away from Ben. Max rushed back to the operating room, slamming the door shut and locking it. Kevin on the other hand released Rook but absorbed some metal from a table for protection.

"Dude! What the heck was that?" Kevin yelled. "Are you trying to jeopardize Ben's chances of surviving the shock? He's bad enough as it is and Max and Dr. Sylleis are doing their best for Ben. We're all in a wreck, just like you! Now can you please calm down?"

Rook slumped and covered his face. "I.. I am sorry Kevin. I did not mean to overreact like that. I was just worried for Ben."

The teen's hard gaze softened. "I know Rook. We're all worrying for him, especially after this." He briefly paused before continuing. "I've noticed something about you recently. I thought maybe I was imagining it but I'm definitely sure. Are you falling for Ben?"

The Revonnahgander paused. "I do not understand. Why would I be falling to the ground for Ben? He has never asked me such a thing."

Kevin almost face palmed himself. "That's not what I meant. Do you like Ben? Like even more than friends? I've seen how you've been so close to him lately and this outburst of concern confirms my suspicions."

He looked away and slumped. "I.. do not know. I-"

"Cut the crap. Just tell me the truth."

Rook covered his face with his hands. "I do. But I do not think Ben would want a relationship such as that with me. I have had only a couple of female relationships on my planet but I have never felt such a strong tie to anyone but Ben. I was not sure what to do and with Vilgax's latest attack, I just decided to keep quiet."

"I knew it." Kevin grinned and patted the nervous looking alien on the back. "I knew I wasn't crazy. And I think you should admit your feelings to Ben. When I met Gwen, I always wanted to admit myself and ask her out but I never got the courage until Ben allowed me into the group and I finally did it. In the end, I shouldn't have been nervous about asking Gwen at all. But I was the happiest person in the world when I finally did."

He didn't reply and kept quiet after Kevin's true but painful words. The older teen felt the awkwardness of the situation and soon left to meet up with Gwen, leaving Rook alone to think about his feelings over his partner.

Did he truly find some affection for the universe's greatest hero? He couldn't have! He-He liked Rayona, she was the only person he truly found any affection for.. but when compared to Ben, she was nothing but a faint memory. Just hearing and thinking of Ben, made his heart lift in a rush. Maybe Kevin was right about everything. Maybe it was time to admit himself to Ben once and for all.. who knew what would happen in the future anyway with Vilgax and all.

But would Ben accept him after he admitted himself? What if the teen felt disgusted? What if he ended their partnership right away? He wasn't sure what he was going to think.. maybe it was a good idea to lure him into it. That would leave them on good terms right?

Rook growled and kicked the table in front of him as a release of anger.

* * *

"Rook?" The Revonnahgander jolted, his exhausted eyes meeting Max's. He hunched in his seat, crossing his arms while looking away. He already felt embarrassed by his outburst earlier; he didn't need to reconfirm it.

"Magister Tennyson. How is Ben?"

The man smiled in relief. "Doing much better. Dr. Sylleis said it was a miracle that Ben was able to get out of the septic shock. All that's left now is too put more vitamins in Ben and wait for his response. Apparently the problem that led to the relapse was that the previous wound never healed correctly adding along to his lowering blood pressure. It was harboring bacteria and infections and then released it all at once. Thank goodness we got him the time we did."

Rook sighed but didn't dare to meet his boss's eyes. "That is a wonderful thing to here. Has he woken up yet?"

"No, not yet. He'll come to in a couple of hours." He replied back and took a seat beside the stressed Plumber. "What was that about Ben before the surgery? Kevin said something but he wouldn't go further into detail about it."

He waved it away and looked to the floor. "It was nothing Magister. I apologize for my immature behavior towards all of you, especially Dr. Sylleis. I did not mean any of it."

Max hummed softly. "I only know of people that do that if their relationships are very very close. I remember the time when Sandra was pregnant with Ben and Carl was so desperate just to see her when she went into labor. They eventually let him in and he started crying more than she did during the end of it. What I'm trying to say is, I've been how close you've been getting with Ben."

Rook nearly broke right there. Was this a message that he didn't want him to hang out with Ben anymore? Had he already lost his chance to tell Ben everything?

"I.. I understand if you do not want me to see Ben again. I knew I had crossed the line but-"

"What are you muttering about Rook?" Max chuckled. "I'm not saying anything negative on how you're feeling. But I can tell you want to let something off your chest by the way you've been acting lately. I know you like Ben and I'm sure Kevin has already talked to you about this, but you need to talk to Ben. You've been too distracted lately by all your mixed emotions, I'm afraid you're not seeing the big picture anymore."

"I do need to talk to Ben.. I was going to confess after he awoke." Rook admitted, his furred cheeks turning bright pink.

"Good. I'm sure everything will work out." He grinned and patted the poor Revonnahgander on the back. "I'm sure the doctor will allow you to see Ben. He's back in your room anyway." He gave a small wink as he stepped out the door.

Rook sat dumbfounded for a brief second before registering that Ben was back in their room. He hurried back but not quick enough to draw suspicion. While in the inside, he was bursting with happiness. He had survived against all odds, yet again! Ben always seemed to steal away the breath in his lungs with his life threatening shenanigans.

And just as Max had promised, Ben laid on the mattress fully unconscious. He still wore no clothes but a thin blanket over his slender frame. There was a IV pole beside him, holding yet another bag of blood and antibiotics Rook had always hated. He just hated thinking that without it, Ben could die.

He laid beside Ben, careful not to stir him in any fashion. He didn't want to risk waking him, especially in his current predicament. He wasn't even sure how to react even if Ben wasn't awake. He did not even know what to do, embarrassment coloring his periwinkle cheeks for some unknown reason.

Asleep, Ben more peaceful then he had in weeks. It was probably the medication he was taking, but he looked so happy. His light chocolate brown hair had been combed in place for the first time, since Ben never bothered taking care of it during the 'Vilgax taking over the world' problem. His skin had regained its usual tan color and Ben's chest was rising and falling strongly. Ben's face was what dragged Rook closer. He couldn't help but admire the human's delicate face, especially since it was so defined yet young.

Before he knew it Rook was only centimeters away from Ben's face. Maybe it was the way his lips looked so tempting or the craving for Ben's affection won out, but Rook's lips met the teen's own. Rook's brain exploded into mush and he nearly melted right there. His lips were so.. soft and inviting that he just didn't want to stop. But when he felt the shifting underneath him and the tug away from him, he paused and jumped back, staring right into green eyes.

"..Rook?" Ben mumbled, still drowsy from all the medication. "Wha..?"

"Ben you are awake!" Rook smiled and brushed back the teen's hair, not answering his confused expression. "I was worried about you."

"You.. You were kissing me." The teen sat up, lightly touching his lips as he stared at Rook. "You.. You were, weren't you?"

He looked away and sighed. "I was."

"But why?"

"Because... I have been feeling these affectionate emotions towards you and I could not help but follow them." Rook admitted softly. "I had not planned for this to occur as it had. I was going to chat to you about this but.. my assumption is that I have messed up." He got up and turned to leave. "I am sorry if I caused you any discomfort."

"Rook!" Ben called, grabbing the Revonnahgander's wrist before he was too far. "What makes you think I want you to leave? Yeah sure I woke up to you kissing me but you haven't even heard my side yet. It's not good to make such early assumptions, you know." He grinned and pulled him down onto the mattress.

Rook felt his heart leap in joy and eagerly sat down beside Ben. He grabbed his hands and pulled them close. "So does this mean you are not furious at me?"

"Mad? How could I be mad? Sure I'm a little annoyed that you woke me up by kissing me when I'm crazy tired but its not like I'm going to kick you out of my life. I mean, who does that? I just.. wish you could have told me sooner. I've been dying to know if you liked me too." Ben punched Rook's arm softly. "At least I got my answer."

Rook chuckled in response and hugged him tight. "You are feeling alright, correct? Last time I saw you, you looked very ill."

"I'm fine.. though what did happen? I remember wanting to sleep and then I'm here with IVs," he gestured towards the IV pole, "in my arm. My stomach hurts like crap too."

"You relapsed Ben. Everyone was worried because you had made so much progress only to succumb back. Your grandfather told me there had been numerous infections in the region of your wound that caused you to get another surgery. But you are fine now. I promise." Rook whispered confidently.

Ben smiled gratefully for the first time in days and hugged the Revonnahgander equally as tight. "Thanks for not giving up on me Rook. I'm glad you've always been there for me, even before this entire mess started."

"It will always be very difficult for you to rid yourselves of me." He joked back.

* * *

Ben had began to make significant improvement after his latest relapse. The previous infections had been killed off and his lowered blood pressure was already making a recoverment. And too their surprise, Ben had been making more developments as well. His muscles were already beginning to increase in strength, which meant his legs were as well. And too their surprise, Ben had began to walk - with assistance from a wall of course.

When discovering he could finally stand on his own two feet, Ben had been elated to tell everyone the news. Everyone shared in the excitement and Dr. Sylleis couldn't help but grin back equally. This was the first steps of stopping Vilgax. Once Ben was built enough, he could go into battle and defeat the squid alien. But they had to focus on returning Ben to normal first.

Another piece of news was that Rook had revealed his feelings to Ben. Max and Kevin weren't as nearly surprised as everyone else. They had nudged him to start taking the first steps towards a relationship during Ben's relapse and it fortunately had worked out.

Now it was pretty difficult to separate Ben and Rook from each other, no matter how hard anyone tried - not like anyone would attempt such a thing.

The two were currently pressed up against each other; Ben's body pressed into the crook of Rook's arms. Ben's face was snuggled on top of his chest, relishing in the fact that he had been dating the Revonnahgander for the past two days. And it had been a merry two days. There had been nothing but a desperate need for affection with each other, which was provided equally. If they happened to move to a different location, Rook was always sure to have Ben close, no matter what. He was not risking losing Ben again.

"Rook?" He looked down to see what the teen wanted only for a grin to meet his eyes. "I'm so happy you decided to tell me how you feel - even though technically you didn't actually 'tell' me. But it's still nice you have you as something else other than a partner."

"The feeling is mutual, Ben." Rook ruffled the teen's hair. "I am glad you kept on living. I would have broke if you died so suddenly, especially with your progress."

"Don't worry fuzzball. I won't be dying anytime soon. I promise." Ben's fingers dragged down Rook's chin for a kiss, which he received with eagerness. It deepened overtime, becoming desperate. Eventually they separated when they heard a knock from the door.

"If I had known this would the the consequence of putting you both together, I wouldn't have done it." Kevin chuckled, nearing a smack by Gwen. She glared at him temporarily before smiling at her cousin and his new boyfriend.

"Grandpa said lunch was going to be served soon and after we'd have a little appointment for you to see how you're doing." She explained softly. "I'm glad to see you doing better."

Ben grinned. "I've felt better than I have for a long time."

Kevin coughed, covering it up with his fist. "Thanks to me." That earned another hit; this time a kick to the shin. The elder flinched in pain and bent over, trying to comfort his throbbing leg.

"Just come out whenever you're ready." Gwen forced before dragging her boyfriend by the shirt, outside.

Ben managed to get to his feet and pull Rook to his own. He linked hands with his boyfriend and smiled softly. Rook mimicked the same look and followed after Gwen.

The dining room, which was consisted of a large oval table with different types of chairs. Everyone was already seated, leaving two empty seats together between Gwen and Max. They were passing small plates filled with simple food from cans. Because of this invasion, not many people were staying in Bellwood or Undertown, leaving the only shops open for any business was Mr. Baumann and some other minor ones. But even Mr. Baumann wasn't getting a large delivery on food because of customers and the fact that the deliverers didn't want to risk their neck just to deliver some supplies. Eventually Mr. Baumann would have to close his store, but whenever he managed to come over to check on all of them, he always managed to sneak some canned food for all of them. Max and Dr. Sylleis always disagreed on the fact that he brought food regularly and protested against it but were internally grateful since every can he gave made them stronger.

Everyone had been getting thinner because of the lack of food, except for Ben. Everyone had agreed quietly that the most important person to be healthy was Ben, since he held the omnitrix and was the only person to defeat Vilgax. If he died or relapsed once more, the fate of earth hung in the balance.

But of course Ben didn't know that.

Both Rook and Ben slid into their seats and began to feast on the food. Halfway through when there was only a little bit of food left, Max handed it over to Rook. The Revonnahgander looked at the food and then at Ben, who was nearly done with his own portion. He grabbed the serving spoon off the plate and began to pour the carrots onto Ben's plate. "Here Ben, finish it up."

Ben paused for a second, giving his boyfriend a suspicious look before waving it off and continuing to devour the food.

Once Rook was done, he lowered the plate and looked down. It wasn't right to just allow them to deteriorate their health for Ben. Ben needed them all to be by his side.. without them, Ben would be completely broken and useless.

But it was great to see him eating pleasurably and somewhat healthy. It was a great start from continuing to eat chili fries and smoothies nearly everyday.

Just as everyone was about to get up and dismiss themselves, the TV set in the corner burst to life. Everyone whipped their head towards the foreign sound, confused on how it turned on by it's self.

"I thought you said that did not work?" Rook asked, narrowing his eyes at the set.

Dr. Sylleis was equally as stumped. "It does but there hasn't been a broadcast signal playing for weeks. Including the fact that it's turned off."

The screen flickered to life, showing the most wanted person on earth. He grinned maliciously and began to chatter away, explaining his plan and moving to the side, showing off his greatest prize.

Everyone paled, turning as white as a ghost. Ben's blood turned cold as he leaned closer to make sure his eyes weren't defying him. Max noticed this and broke away from the control of the TV. "Turn it off Dr. Sylleis.. Turn it off now!"

He rushed to turn it off, only for the TV to have a mind of it's own and ignore it's orders. He rushed to the outlet and pulled the plug, only for the broadcast to continue playing. The man jumped up, his eyes widening in surprise and fear. "It's not turning off Max! What's happening?"

Max turned to Rook. "Get Ben out of here!" Rook didn't listen, his eyes completely hypnotized at the screen. It wasn't until a large fist slammed into the table did he jolt out of his skin. "That's an order!"

Rook nodded sharply and grabbed Ben's forearm, tugging him out of his chair towards the exit. Ben realized he was being moved somewhere else and began to thrash wildly. "No! Let go of me! Let me go! No, let me see them! Please!" But his pleas were denied and he was pushed into the hallway. But his screams didn't falter as he was dragged into his bedroom, the door shutting loudly.

It wasn't until the creature on the television muttered one last important thing did the broadcast abruptly end, leaving them all stunned, terrified and cold. A second later, a large metal fist collided with the TV, smashing the screen and leaving a trail of smoke into the air.

"He didn't just.. I mean he couldn't have.." Kevin whispered, shutting his eyes. "There's so way he stumped that low."

"It's _him_, Kevin." Gwen muttered with disgust. "He's unpredictable and.. a monster. I.. I'll go check on Ben."

Max held her back. "No, let Rook handle Ben. He doesn't need anymore of us reminding him what he just saw."

She softly nodded and looked towards the TV, feeling anger rise into her. Kevin sensed his and held her, trying his best to comfort her.

Everyone else felt just as numb. They couldn't believe what just had occurred.. it was just too unreal. Max, himself, had thought they were safe. They had escaped the town.. why were they there then?

_"I'll cut you a deal Tennyson: You can have your parents back safe if you come to me as an alternative offering. But if I don't get an answer within 48 hours, then I'll switch up my deal and finish them off instead. But you wouldn't want that, right Tennyson?"_ Vilgax's evil laughter followed.

Then Ben's screams filled the empty void.

* * *

After spending nearly 3 hours sobbing, Ben's eyes had become swollen. His throat had come dry and he felt no need to cry any longer. He just felt numb. He couldn't feel anymore emotions other than the urge to kill Vilgax for everything that squid monster had done. He just felt like giving up.

Rook felt this strong sensation from Ben and wrapped his large arms around Ben's figure. "Are you okay Ben? I know.. I understand how you feel but moping will not accomplish anything. You will save them, that I do know, and everything will return to normal in the end."

He sensed a shudder from underneath him and a pained sob. "I.. don't think I can Rook. I can't save them Rook. How can I save them if I can't save myself?"

"I do not underst-"

"I know you won't understand me Rook. I've seen what everyone's doing to me. How you guys aren't eating enough for my health and you try and protect me from everything Vilgax's planning." Rook gasped in surprise. "Rook, you're dating _Ben Tennyson_. The savior of the universe. I've _seen_ everything and you possibly can't surprise me anymore. But I know more than you think, about Vilgax and Bellwood."

Rook's head lowered and he honestly replied back. "I.. I just do not want you to do something that I will regret and jeopardize everything."

Ben sighed. "Rook, listen to me. You can't stop me. Not my parents, not Grandpa Max, not Gwen or Kevin, not even you can stop me from fulfilling my decisions. I'm going to Vilgax, tomorrow an-"

"No! You cannot go to him, Ben! He will destroy you!" Rook argued back, standing up in protest. "I will not allow you to do that!"

"Rook."

"Please, you cannot do something so.. reckless. You are the only person that can defeat Vilgax.. and I need you alive and well when you come back."

"Rook, I'm sorry but this is something I have to do. But I need you and the others to watch my back.. Vilgax won't keep his promise about letting my parents go. You need to save them while I deal with Vilgax. And whatever you do, don't look back at me." Ben whispered, hugging the Revonnahgander tight. "I love you so much."

"I love you equally as well." Rook whispered, clutching the small teenager, who was begging to sob once more. He lifted his hand and stroked his soft chocolate brown hair, trying his best to comfort the broken teen.

* * *

"Ben, are you sure about this? There has to be another way and you've found it numerous amount of times!" Gwen asked once more, her eyes scanning the clearing.

Her cousin glanced at her with hopelessness and jumped down from the trash hill. "Gwen, if there was another way, then I would have taken it. This is the _only_ way. To bring peace to Bellwood and to all of you. Now c'mon."

They followed after him, towards the exit of Undertown. The group consisted of Ben, himself, Gwen, Rook, Kevin and Max. Dr. Sylleis had decided to stay back, since he wasn't a fighting character. He had decided against Ben's decision to fight Vilgax so early into his healing process but had wished them luck anyway.

After reaching the entrance, Ben looked into the sky and pointed at the large ship, which resembled Vilgax's. "That's it. I'll fight him and you guys get on his ship and find my parents. Once you guys are out, send me some sort of signal and I'll finish it there."

Nobody questioned him and he took that as a forced agreement. He rushed after the ship along with everyone else. Once they were close enough, Ben paused once more and began to hug eveyrone. He wasn't honestly sure if he was going to ever see his family after this.. but it was good to get some sort of closure.

He hugged his cousin first, nearly sobbing at how she equally hugged back. It was heartbreaking to tear himself away from his family but this was for the end of Vilgax's murderous reign and his parents' unconfirmed safety.

"Ben." He turned and briefly embraced his grandfather and Kevin and turned to meet the last person he'd ever wanted to leave.

He had thought about this decision long and hard. He knew everything he was giving up and he knew in the process if everything worked as he planned, Rook would be the only one to never heal from this experience.. but it was something he had to do. He had to protect and save his parents. Ben couldn't risk losing his folks as well.

Ben's arms wrapped around Rook's bare neck, as the Revonnahgander shuddered. Rook knew how much this meant to Ben, and as much as he'd love to rip him away from his ridiculous plan and keep him safe, he couldn't. This was Ben's choice..

"I'm going to miss you Rook." He admitted softly and nuzzled his face into the crook of Rook's arm. "But I promise, I'll do my best to come back. But if I don't.. then you need to move on.. for my sake, okay?"

Rook didn't manage to reply, either because his throat had seized up with emotions or the teen was already walking away from him. By the time he managed to speak, it was already too late. Ben had rushed off in hopes of finding Vilgax and pulling the squid monster away from his parents.

Gwen sniffled. "C'mon guys. Let's go find Sandra and Carl."

* * *

Ben had thought it would be easy to spot the alien monster from his ship, but apparently it had proven difficult. He seemed no where to be found and Ben even reverted back to normal when he realized he wasn't going to find him soon.

Where had Vilgax gone? There had been no recent earthquakes when he decided to demolish buildings or a section of the city. So that only meant he had to be here.. right?

"Looking for me Tennyson?" His wish was granted true as the floor underneath him was blasted into dust, leaving him to fly off into the corner from the invisible force. His back slammed into the foreign alien material and he dropped onto the ground. Vilgax appeared from the hole in the ground, his eyes highlighted red. "That will be the last mistake you ever make!" He blasted the ground once more, but Ben was quicker to react, already slamming down on the omnitrix.

He felt the DNA inside him rearrange and the bones inside his body morph and take a different shape. A second later, he had changed into a Tetramand. Ben, who hadn't used the omnitrix for a near two months, already felt the familiar sensation of the omnitrix creep into his skin.

He would have landed on his rear if it wasn't for his alien instincts to claw into the ground and regain his balance. His eyes met Vilgax's, who snickered back.

"I'm quite surprised that you're alive actually. I had thought that last battle with you would have left you permanently out of the way of ruining my plans. But then I heard rumors that you were still alive but unfortunately no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find a trace of you. Until now." He chuckled darkly. "Are you ready for a last hero's challenge?"

Ben clenched his teeth in anger at Vilgax. He pulled out the material he managed to sink his fingers in and threw it directly at Vilgax, only for him to cut it in half with his large sword. "You can't possibly think you'd win, could you? This is the last time you defeat Vilgax the Conquer of 11 Worlds!" Vilgax slammed his fists into the ground, throwing Ben through a wall.

Although Ben had barely begun this battle, his body was already yearning for it's master to stop. Oh great.

* * *

Gwen managed to teleport the rest of the group into Vilgax's ship, where unfortunately a battle was taking place. The ship shook from damage, forcing everyone to fall from their feet.

"What is Ben doing?" Kevin muttered, rubbing his head. He pulled his girlfriend up, once the shaking had ceased.

"I don't know, but we'd better hurry." Gwen replied quickly, not wanting to waste another second thinking about what was happening Ben.

The group of four made their way further and further deeper inside the ship, managing to evade guards and security systems. Gwen's eyes glowed pink as she tried to track Ben's parents, who were apparently very close. Her eyes flashed back to their usual green and she gripped her head. "I don't understand. I can Ben's parents.. they're extremely close but some reason we're not getting close enough. I-"

"It's okay Gwen, we'll find them soon." Kevin assured softly, rubbing his girlfriend's tense shoulders. "Just relax and then keep tracking."

Rook however was very impatient. The Revonnahgander was a wreck, with the heartbroken loss of his newly claimed partner and whether the teen was even alive. "We need to find them and save Ben now."

Kevin's eyes narrowed and he growled out, "Do you wanna repeat that Fuzz_Face_?" When Rook heard Ben's familiar nickname being twisted around, he nearly broke. "You have no say in what Gwen does, so I say you shut it and calm down before I make you."

"And what say do you have other than being infamous for being a criminal? You have no say either!" Rook accused equally.

Max, sensing where this was headed, butted it, pushing both males away from each other. "Listen boys! We don't have time for this. I suggest you both calm down before you give us away."

Gwen regained her composition momentarily and nudged them all away. "We're following my orders. And Kevin, thanks for standing up to me, but right now isn't a good time. We're all stressed about Ben's safety so let's all chill."

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Kevin looked away, crossing his arms like a child. Rook stared at Kevin for a longer time before glancing over at a different direction.

"Gwen? What if we're not on the same floor as them? We could be underneath or above them; this is a pretty large ship." Max suggested, looking towards the ceiling.

"That would make sense but I would have sensed that they're on a different elevation than us. They have to be on this floor." She paused at the wall, staring straight at it. The others scratched their heads puzzled until Gwen hesitantly touched the wall. Only her hand didn't touch the metal like they had anticipated. It had phased right through, as if the wall was not even there. She glanced to the others and grinned. "Found them."

As she had predicted, when they had entered through the intangible wall, Sandra and Carl were trapped in a containment field. When they spotted the group, they jumped to the feet and began to bang on the cell wall.

"Gwen!" She sobbed in relief. Sandra had began to lose hope that someone would arrive to save them. After all, they hadn't seen their son since Vilgax had overrun Bellwood and that had been months ago. "Max! I'm so happy to see you all!"

Kevin took the duty of breaking the code to the shield while Gwen and Max began to reassure the worried parents of Ben.

Carl took notice of a missing member and asked in desperation. "Where's Ben?"

Max and Gwen remained quiet as the shield between them was disrupted. Sandra didn't move from her spot however, but stared straight at her niece and father-in-law. "Ben. Where's my baby boy?"

The elder man sighed and pushed back his grey hairs. "I'm sorry Sandra.. We all tried to talk to Ben about his plan.. but it was no use. He was set on distracting Vilgax so we could get to you."

"No!" She cried out, sobbing into her husband's shoulder. Carl glanced sadly from her to them and dipped his head softly. He knew his son well enough that nothing would coax him out of his phase. Ben was his own person.. and he had to learn his decisions cost things.

"C'mon, let's get them out of here and give Ben the signal." Kevin uttered.

Sandra shot straight up and glanced at Kevin with horror. "What signal? Max, what is he talking about?!"

Max ignored her and stared at his son. "Get her out here safely, son. I promise whatever happens, everything will go back to normal - like it was before. I promise."

"What about Ben?"

"I'll do whatever I can to bring him back safe."

Carl hesitated but followed after Gwen, who began to conjure up a teleporting spell. Once she was finished, herself, Kevin and Sandra and Carl disappeared in a pink flare of light.

Max's sorrowful expression was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder, coming from Rook. "We need to get Ben out of there. I.. We cannot lose him too."

"Rook, things might not come out as you want." He whispered softly.

The Revonnahgander stopped in his tracks, whipping around to meet Max's hardened gaze. "What do you mean?"

"Whatever Ben's planning, he's thought it long and hard without any other backup plans. Whatever he's going for, he's going all the way with it." Max explained. "We can try and lure Ben away from his plan.. but it will be very difficult to do. Ben's the most stubborn person I've met."

"Ben will escape Vilgax and everything will go back to normal Magister Tennyson. Do not think so low of Ben.. not at a time like this. Your grandson has survived many incredible feats. I am sure he can do the same here." Rook said confidently and rushed out, this time not waiting to see if the elder was following after.

His shoulders drooped. "That's what I'm afraid of."

* * *

He had to be honest to himself when he realized he was _very_ exhausted. His state of mind was starting to deter, from the chronic anaerobic battle he was currently in. He couldn't focus long enough without Vilgax punching/throwing him into something else. He had managed to hide from the alien squid long enough to take a break, trying to calm his racing heart. He had thought of trying to come up with a plan to defeat him, but his brain was beginning to form a migraine.

Ben reverted back to his human form and placed a hand on his throbbing skull. He felt like vomiting at the moment.

"Come out Tennyson! When I find you, I'll rip you in half!" Vilgax bellowed through the air. His scream was loud enough for Ben to collapse to his knees. His brain felt like exploding and his vision was already starting to spin.

But he couldn't give up. He just needed to wait til his friends gave the signal and this could all be over.. He just needed to be patient.

And just as he had expected, a pink explosion rocked the sky, bright enough to blind someone. But large enough for Ben to realize it was the signal he had been hoping for. It took a while to get to his feet since they had gotten weak. He slowly went outside the cave-ish building he was in and glanced around, surveying the immense damage to the city of Bellwood. His hometown completely in ruins because of him.

He spotted Vilgax a couple miles away, but not too far. He was sure if he changed into one of his flight aliens, he would reach there in a solid minute. But deep inside, he didn't want too. For the first time since getting the omnitrix, Ben felt afraid for himself, his family and his city. This.. this wasn't like those times where things would weigh towards him. No, this time, it was all him to stop Vilgax for good. His friends weren't there to support him. He was all alone.

Ben shuddered and glanced down at the omnitrix, popping up the dial and picking his quickest flying alien. Before he could slam down on the dial, a tear fell down his cheek and landed on the watch. "I'm sorry."

* * *

Max and Rook managed to arrive outside Vilgax's ship when they saw a firework of pink mana light up the sky.

Rook widened his eyes. "Oh no. We need to find Ben, immediately."

"I have an idea of where he is."

He glanced over to ask what Max meant only to see a blue alien head towards Downtown Bellwood. They were too late. "Ben!" He yanked the Proto-Tool from his shoulder and switched settings, shooting an arrow at the ship then at the ground. "We must hurry if we are to reach Ben."

Max softly nodded and grabbed onto the metallic rope, following Rook as he began to descend. By the time they had reached the ground, Ben had already disappeared from the sky.

Rook had to guess it would be a 5 minute distance by car but by foot, it would be quite longer. Too bad, Rook wasn't one to choose the latter. By the time they would arrive, the fight would be over with and the champion would be established. And he honestly hoped Ben would come out on top.

Rook rushed to a nearby car, which hadn't be demolished by anything since Vilgax's reign and broke the window with the end of his weapon. He unlocked the car and broke the connection with the car and it's alarm before beginning to work with the mechanics of the primitive vehicle. Max caught up with him momentarily, looking quite impressed that Rook was already thinking ahead.

Once he finished, Rook popped up and grinned when he heard the engine roar to life after weeks of unuse. He sat in the drivers seat and patted the seat next to him. "It is time we go save Ben."

Max nodded and climbed in after him. Barely a second later, the car zoomed from 0 to 50, bustling down the road. With Vilgax desperately trying to find Ben all those weeks, he had wrecked streets and buildings, making the roads mostly unusable. Except for Rook. He was wasting no time trying to find an alternative route that was safe and instead used memory to find the quickest way to downtown.

And once they arrived, it was completely chaos.

The streets that Rook had previously driven on were nothing compared to the wreckage here. Buildings had been tipped over and were completely destroyed. The streets were completely blasted through and frozen over as well, the pipes holding water frozen in mid air.

Rook forced the car to skid to a stop and jumped out of the car. Max followed in persuit and paused when he saw Rook stop. "Rook? What's happening?" Not receiving an answer, he decided to check himself only for him to nearly swallow his tongue.

His grandson was barely holding up his own. Currently in his necrofriggian form, he was taking countless assaults from Vilgax and not even fighting back. It looked as if had already given up. Vilgax smirked in trumphieth and punched him once last time, which sent him flying a couple of yards. He reverted back to Ben once he made contact with the ground and that became the last straw for Rook. He unlatched his weapon from his shoulder and began to blast Vilgax away from touching Ben once more. "Do not dare touch him once more!"

Max took that moment to hurry to his grandson and yank him away from the scene. The cuts and bruises all over his arms and face made him shiver in fear. "Ben? Ben, I need you to answer me kiddo!"

The teen opened his swollen eyes and stared at the blurred image of his grandfather. "Grandpa? What.. What are you doing here?"

"Here to get you out. You can't fight Vilgax on your own, not like this. We're taking you home." Max explained, picking up Ben bridal style.

But instead of feeling any sort of relief, Ben felt panic. He shoved his grandpa away and held his stomach. "No, I'm ending this today. I'm not letting that monster having the satisfaction of beating me again."

"What satisfaction will he gain other than murdering you? I won't let you hurt yourself, not after I promised your folks." He swore.

Ben paused for a second, remembering the entire point of the mission. But when he realized his folks were safe and out of the way, he shook his head even harder. "No, this motivates me even more to finish the job. We can't have Vilgax roaming the streets anymore. He's too dangerous and he's taken way to many lives already. If I make it out, I promise you can yell at me all you want, but for now," He activated his omnitrix and slammed down on the designated alien he had chosen to end everything. "I need to know everything will be fine. Get somewhere safe and.. I'm sorry."

Ben had chosen Atomix and flew into the sky, slamming into Vilgax. Rook was blasted back by the amount of energy exerted by Ben and bolted up once he realized his boyfriend was back on the battlefield. He turned to Max, who had a depressed smile on his face. Understanding what had occurred, Rook shook his head in disbelief. "No.. No, you did not let him do something so foolish!"

"I couldn't stop him Rook. I'm s-" Not being able to handle saying the last words Ben had uttered before departing, the man dropped to his knees and began to sob. Rook's heart dropped and he grabbed onto Max's forearm.

"Let us move to a more safer location. Ben.. He will know what to do." Rook promised, not only to the elder but to assure himself. They managed to duck and rush away from the scene before a large piece of the building beside him fell right onto their previous location.

Explosions erupted throughout the entire downtown, which Max swore nearly felt like earthquakes. If he had to guess, it would register a 7 on the Richter Scale in severity. No matter even if they left, Rook was continuing to trace around the battle for his and Ben's sake. He had to know what happened.

When both of them had reached a safe place near the outskirts of the battle, Rook paused and clenched his fists. "I have to go Magister."

Max jolted. "What was that?"

"I cannot stay here and watch Ben being kicked around by Vilgax. I do not care what he said to you, I love him well enough that I will not let some monster such as Vilgax get in the way of us. You can punish me for disobeying your orders later." Rook rambled before readying his Proto-Tool and dashing off towards the battle.

Ben looked to be keeping his own better than before, but Rook could tell that he was getting awfully tired. His offensive attacks were weak and he was barely using anything during defense. But Rook sensed this was part of a plan of Ben's.. not good at all.

"Ben!" Rook called, trying desperately to gain his lover's attention. Either way you looked at it: Rook successfully gained Ben's attention only for it to work to Vilgax's advantage as the squid alien punched him across the face. Ben cried out in pain and landed close to Rook, his body aching.

Then his eyes shot open and he glanced over at Rook. "What are you doing here?! I told you and Grandfather to go somewhere safe!"

Rook's gaze didn't falter. "I know I disobeyed your and Magister Tennyson's orders by coming here. But I could not keep away. Ben I love you, I cannot see you getting killed."

Ben softly smiled. "You're a real sweetheart, Rook."

"I promise everything will work out in the end." He assured with confidence. But his smile dropped when he heard a scream and a strong force of energy slam into him, propelling him towards the nearest building. Unfortunately, the building was at the point of crumbling apart and it did just so when Rook collided with it.

"Rook!" Ben screamed, hot tears rushing down his throbbing cheeks. His hand had instinctively outstretched towards the building that had crushed Rook and he limply dropped it, defeated.

Vilgax landed a couple feet away from Ben and snickered. "Isn't it a sad feat that your little Revonnahgander partner had to suffer your consequences? You always make a mess of things dear boy.. and now I guess it's time to make a mess of you."

But Ben didn't react as Vilgax had hoped. He had thought a broken, sobbing boy was what he would be met with. It was the complete opposite.

"You monster!" Ben shrieked, slamming a fistful of electrified energy into Vilgax's abdomen. The alien was sent skidding into the ground but was met with several more punches. Just when he thought Ben had finished, the creature was creating a ball of energy which was pulsing red.

Vilgax narrowed his eyes at the ball's creation and watched as Ben stared at him with hard green eyes. "You think you're so high and mighty now, Vilgax? I'm not one to end it like this, but you.. you need to be stopped." He combined the energy with the omnitrix symbol on his chest and it glowed even brighter. "Goodbye and good riddance!" He threw the ball of condensed energy into Vilgax and the entire ball exploded.

Everything turned white and Ben felt the familiar sensation of the watch revert him back to human. He felt the ground slam into his back and the full weight of the pain of his body was dropped on him. He couldn't breath. His lungs felt constricted and his brain was beginning to shut down. His vision was darkening rapidly and Ben felt so scared. Terrified. He didn't know what was going to happen or if he even succeeded in defeating Vilgax. All that was left now was to let his body rest.. But who knew if he would even wake up anymore?

Ben's eyes lid shut and he smiled one final time.

* * *

Rook felt terrible when he regained his senses. He could hear something working it's way through rubble and seconds later, the rubble from Rook's tired sore body was removed. Max stood over him and pulled him out of the wreckage. "Rook, are you okay?"

He managed to nod and rub his temple. "Yes, but.." He scanned the clearing and paled. "Where is Ben?"

Max looked down. "I don't know. I haven't looked for him yet. You needed the most attention but we can go look for him now."

The two rushed towards the middle of the battle slowly, staring at the body armor of the alien. His body was completely gone or dissolved away and all that was left of his existence was small pieces of his suit scattered around. Rook walked up to him and took sight of the pieces without any emotion. His face was just saddened that it had to end this way. Why couldn't Ben be fine?

Max and Rook didn't bother too stick around the leftovers of Vilgax for long. Their main priority was to find Ben and see if the teen was even alive.

Thankfully it didn't take long until they found him. And unfortunately, the battle seemed to take the most out of him. The first think Rook was able to make out was how pale Ben's head was. It seemed to contrast from the rest of his body, making it stand out way more. His face and body were littered with cuts, bruises and scrapes from debris of buildings and Vilgax. There seemed not to be any physical problems with Ben and Rook took a big step by bending down closer. He couldn't tell if the teen was breathing or not, since Ben didn't seem to move. But as soon as he pressed his sensitive ear to Ben's chest, he could hear the weak thumping of his heart clearly. It wasn't great that it was so weak as it was, but it was enough for Rook to get some stress of his shoulders.

"We need to take him back to the doctor." Max stated, snapping him out of his daze. Rook nodded and slowly lifted up Ben bridal style, supporting his head and pushing the boy close to his chest. Through his uncovered fingers, he could feel how cold Ben was becoming and he could tell the boy was losing the will to live. 'No' he thought with horror, 'keep fighting Ben. We're almost there!'

They managed to find the car Rook had first used to get here, slightly affected by the large battle. Thankfully it was still usable and Max hopped into the driver's seat. Rook sat in the back with Ben, not daring to leave him once more. It took several minutes to reach there, but by then rumors had spread about the battle outside. Aliens crowded around the entrance of Undertown, screaming in panic when they saw Max rush through the horde. They began to run after the car, towards the very location they were headed to.

When Max saw the house of the doctor appeared, he then began to slow down. He parked right in the front of the house and heard a frantic female-ish yell from the house. Sandra, Carl, Gwen and others were beginning to rush towards the car, asking what had occurred while they had fled. But as soon as Rook stepped out of the vehicle, everyone shushed.

It was terrible to look at honestly. That very morning they had found Ben perfectly healthy, almost to the point of being exactly like he was before. But now here he was; the same exact picture as they had found him after that battle that forced him into a coma for months.

"My baby!" Sandra cried out, cupping her mouth in angst. Carl grabbed onto her figure and hid his face in her hair, not daring to see what he had sworn he would never see again. He had promised himself that his son would never get hurt seriously ever again, yet here he was. Broken, bloody and pained.

"Is it over? Did Ben win?" Kevin asked hesitantly.

Max nodded with a soft smile. "Yes, Ben stopped him even when me and Rook arrived on the scene. He had already made up his mind and having that famous Tennyson stubbornness, we couldn't fight him. I'm sorry Sandra."

Rook jerked when he heard whimpering coming from below him and he pushed back the teen's hair. "We need to get Ben medical help."

"Take him inside." Max instructed. "I'll be in there shortly."

He did was he was instructed and hurried to set up his boyfriend with the doctor. Taking this chance, everyone stepped closer, looking desperate. He sighed and held his head. "Vilgax is gone. Ben did exactly what he swore he would do. We're safe now.. Once Ben's healed up, we can help rebuild the city."

The weight on their shoulders miraculously disappeared as they all exhaled. Max was about to explain what had occurred after both him and Rook had departed only for a panicked yell to break their conversation.

"Magister! We need you!" Rook darted towards the elder and tugged on his sleeve. "Ben's entering shock!"

It didn't take long for the entire family to crowd around the medical ward, where Ben was being held down by Dr. Sylleis. The doctor waved towards Rook, who helped hold down the teen by his shoulders.

"Ben! Please calm down!" Ben managed to calm himself, his breathing ragged and wheezy. His eyes were wide with alarm, his fingers wrapping around tightly to Rook's wrists.

"What's happening now? I didn't think he could go back into shock." Max demanded, tending over his grandson.

"It seems that battle took more out of him that you had thought. His lungs seems to have been overused and failed soon after. He's also managed to get brain hypoxia, which is when oxygen doesn't get to the brain. But he's very lucky to be subjected to only 5 minutes total without it. Probably from all the constant running and fighting, which he managed to get a constant break. He has a mild concussion as well, but what I'm worried about now is respiratory arrest. I'm guessing there is bruising around his chest and he'll need to be cared for gently." He mumbled mostly to himself. "We need to get the entire room evacuated. Too many people will make the boy scared. Please, if you would."

Max nodded and turned to his family. "You heard him. Once Ben's good, we'll call you so you can see him. I promise Ben will be fine."

Sandra sniffled and followed her husband out without a word. Gwen and Kevin hesitated but left soon after. Rook paused for a second before turning to leave but a rough hand held him back.

"No, Rook. Ben needs you know more than ever. You need to be here with him to comfort him while we try and help him. He may think of giving up Rook, especially after all that's happened today. He's thinking he's finished and wants to let go.. but you can't let him. Not after all of this." Max patted the poor Revonnahgander on the back. "Think you can manage that?"

Rook nodded and took a seat beside a suffering Ben. His face was tightened in severe discomfort and his knuckles were beginning to turn white. He sighed and leaned over, tucking the greasy strands of chocolate brown behind his ear. "Be strong Ben. I know you can. Just hold on." He continued to whisper words of encouragement every time he thought Ben was giving up.

And in his subconscious, Ben heard every word and desperately fought to do as Rook had said. He didn't want to leave.. not after all of this.. but he could feel his body shutting down from all the damage he had taken.. He needed to hold on.

* * *

When Ben was aware of himself, darkness was etched around him. He realized he couldn't feel the pain of his body and froze, thinking that death had finally won. But when something tapped on his shoulder, he spun around, in a defensive maneuver. That's when he dropped his stance.

"Professor Paradox?"

The witty man just chuckled and patted the teen on the back. "I can understand your confusion and I bet you're wondering why I show up out of all times now. Just understand it was all cause and effect."

"I don't understand." Ben admitted softly and clenched his eyes. "Am I dead finally?"

"Finally?" Paradox repeated and shook his head. "No dear boy, you are very much still alive.. for now."

"For now?" His eyes widened and he instinctively backed up. "What are you talking about? What do you mean 'for now'?"

"You're still in Dr. Sylleis's medical ward. Rook, Max and himself are trying to assist you with your shock. If I'm right, you should be in respiratory arrest any minute now." He glanced to his pocketwatch and slipped it back into his jacket. "Benjamin, I know you must feel very confused but now is not the time for it. I felt you needed a little nudge in the right direction after all. Nobody will judge you if you decide to end it here. After all the stress on your body, it will be quite painful if you return. You can decide to leave if you'd like or continue forward. I would take you to the afterlife as help."

Ben dropped his hands and stared at the professor. "Is this why you came? To tell me if I had a choice to either live or die?" Tears fell from his cheeks. "Why would you ask me anything like that? I-" He choked on a sob and covered his mouth.

Paradox sighed and comforted the boy as best as he could. "You deserve a peaceful end and I promise you, your family will be safe. You've already done what you were destined to do in the mortal world. Destroy Vilgax and push the human world towards a glorious future. You've completed your destiny."

"That's what I was destined for?" Ben whispered. "To destroy that _monster_?"

"Yes, that was your main goal in life. The other villains you've ever dealt with - Charmcaster &amp; Hex, Kevin when he was younger, Dr. Animo, Zs'Skayr, Highbreed, Albedo - all of those were minor villains to prepare you for Vilgax. And you've done it." He praised with a soft chuckle. "You've done remarkable things as a boy, Benjamin, and only 17 years of age. You should be proud."

He looked down. Paradox reluctantly sighed. "I don't know what else I can tell you. This is your choice. I will be back to know your final decision. I know you will choose what is right." And he disappeared into the black space.

Ben broke down second after his departure and began to cry uncontrollably.

* * *

"What's going on with him?" Max demanded, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"He's entering respiratory arrest! But he was making so much progress!?" Dr. Sylleis panicked as he increased the oxygen to the breathing mask on Ben's unconscious face. It didn't do much to help slow or stop the arrest.

Rook had noticed something was wrong once Ben's grip around his hand had loosened. Now the boy was barely even holding onto Rook and that terrified him. His chest wasn't rising in rhythm anymore, and was just now irregular. His breaths came out in uneasy gasps, but his eyes remained closed. Rook didn't want to see Ben's eyes. It would just haunt him.

"I don't think Ben is holding anymore, Magister." Rook slowly revealed despite the twos attempts of trying revive Ben.

"Don't say that!" Max yelled, whipping around to stare at Rook's depressed face. "My grandson is NOT a quitter. He's not giving up..!"

"Max.." He looked up to face the doctor, who had an expression of sympathy. "I'm afraid Rook might be correct. Ben's.. he's losing the will to live. Only a miracle could push him back to us."

"What do you mean?" He demanded.

"If Ben wants to die, he'll allow himself to. He feels like he's completed his mission on earth and is prepared to face death. But if he feels like there's another thing holding him back, he'll miraculously stay and fight." He bowed his head in respect. "I'm sorry but we'll just have to see how this plays out. The worst thing that could happen is that he slips into a coma, which his body will still keep alive. But we won't know anything til then. This is all up to Ben now."

Dr. Sylleis quietly slid into the other room, about to explain what had occurred to the others. Hopefully they would take it better than Max had.

Rook hesitantly glanced over at his Magister, who had his fingers clenched into the mattress of the cot, his head down. He could feel the tension radiating off his boss and he felt a shiver of fear run up his spine. Before he could even say anything, he felt a grip crush his wrist and Rook nearly jumped back from fright.

It was Max that had grabbed him in a nearly deathly tight grip, that Rook was starting to feel uncomfortable from. "Magister? Could you let go?" The man said nothing but slowly lifted his head, staring darkly at his grandson's boyfriend. The grip on his wrist only increased and Rook began to feel it beginning to bruise. "Max!"

The man showed no signs of remorse as he latched onto the other wrist and began to crush it. "This is all your fault! If it wasn't for you, Ben would be alright and we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Rook was starting to scream from the intense pain. He didn't want to fight the elder man since it seemed disrespectful but he didn't want to get his wrists broken. Luckily, the others had heard the sounds coming from inside the ward and burst in.

He felt something finally release him from the human deathtrap as he was pulled apart. And when he glanced down to his wrists, sure enough they were completely purple - well more purple than normal. He clutched them softly, staring over to Max, who was being restrained by Carl and Kevin. Sandra and Gwen were trying to coax him back to normal, which failed when he threatened to kill Rook if Ben died. The two males were quick to store Max some place else, away from Rook.

Dr. Sylleis checked over his wrists and sighed in relief. "You're fine. Just some bruising which should ware away in a couple days. Thank goodness we got to you in time. I would have never guessed Max would be the one to end up with PTSD. It's not very common for him since he should be familiar with very terrifying scenes but this might have pushed him to the limit. We shouldn't blame him for this - everyone would do the same thing if they had seen what he witnessed."

Rook nodded and pushed back his sweaty hair, fully overwhelmed by all that had occurred within 24 hours.

* * *

Ben felt guilt when he witnessed what his grandfather had done to Rook. The poor Revonnahgander had been confused, terrified and broken when Max had been pulled away and taken back to his quarters. Everyone had tried their best to comfort him but nothing worked unfortunately. Rook didn't honesty care what everyone else said.. all he needed down was his partner to be awake.

For the past couple of hours, Rook never left Ben's side. Not even for a second.

He couldn't risk the chance of never seeing Ben alive again. This way, he would always be there with Ben, no matter what.

Ben would have thought it would be a kind gesture but it wasn't. He could see the way Rook starved himself more and more each day. Ben had sworn it was a plan of his to join the afterlife just like he was choosing to either stay or go.

He wasn't sure how long time had passed until the silhouette form of Paradox appeared and stabilized. He had a sad look on his face as he walked up to the depressed teenager. He bent down to glance over at the screen Ben was staring at. "Have you made a final decision?"

The teen just sighed and dug his face into his knees. "..no."

"You need to make one soon, dear boy. You've seen how your partner's been taking it. It'll only take a few more days until he's wounded up in the same spot you're in.. but he won't have a choice unfortunately." Paradox summed up glumly. "What's holding you from making your decision. Perhaps I could lessen your reasons."

Ben gave the professor a blank look before rubbing his temple. "I don't know. I want to stay to be with my family, friends and just keep on living through my entire life. But what happens if this is the best way to die. What happens if one of my enemies manage to assassinate or torture me? I mean, this could be the best way to die for everyone to be at peace and forget about me. I.. I just don't know."

Paradox softly smiled and sat beside the teen. "I can understand what you're trying to say. All heroes have second chances and this is yours. You've been the hero. You've saved everyone on earth and the universe. You've wielded one of the most important devices in this century. You've done so much, not even regular heroes such as George would have accomplished in such a sort time. Benjamin, you were born a pure hero. But all heroes must retire someday." Silence followed his explanation and he rubbed his back. "You have a choice."

Ben swallowed hard and turned to him. "I-I think I'm ready."

The professor grinned ear to ear. "I knew you would be. Let's go."

* * *

Rook hadn't feel like crap ever before now. He knew he felt sick and corpse like but it was all for Ben. He just.. he needed to see Ben again. It felt like eternity since the last time he had seen Ben alive.

But that had been nearly a week ago and not much had improved. Max had calmed down from his PTSD and had apologized repeatedly every time he laid eyes on Rook. He felt horrible for doing and saying such things to the person he trusted to take care of his little grandson. Ben wasn't invincible and neither was he.

It was just another day when Rook awoke from his dreamless sleep. He lifted his head from the raggedy mattress - only to see Ben missing! His eyes bugled out of his head and he jumped to his feet. "Ben!" He rushed down the hallway towards the dining room when he found everyone eating breakfast. He had at least expected Ben to be sitting down but even that was a figment of his imagination.

"Where's Ben!?" Rook cried, holding onto the door frame tightly.

Kevin cocked his eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Ben should be sleeping right next to you in the medical ward."

He shook his head furiously. "He's not! Ben's missing from his bed and I-"

"Rook?"

Everyone turned to face behind Rook, which revealed a pained looking Ben Tennyson. He looked worse for ware since he still held onto his stomach and was clutching the wall for balance. He looked clammy to the touch and still obviously tired. Rook was the first one to hug him fiercely, sobbing with emotion. "Ben, you're alive!"

The teen forced a tired grin and hugged his boyfriend back. "I told you I wouldn't leave you."

Everyone gathered around the magically healed boy, who had explained what had occurred when he was in his temporary coma.

Nearly shocked to death at the tale, Sandra hugged her son and planted many more kisses onto his face. "I'm so glad you stayed Ben. You can't leave us until your father and I die first!"

He chuckled along side them. "I know.. I'm sorry I worried you guys. I promise I won't do it again."

"You'd better not Benjamin Tennyson!" Sandra joked.

By the time Rook was able to tear Ben away from the crowd swallowing him with questions, he had already formed his very own questions. The tired teen laid on the dusty mattress, which hadn't been slept on for days. Ben didn't seem to care when he hopped right onto it, an exhausted expression on his face.

"Ben?"

The teen turned his head and rubbed his eye. "What?"

"How are you-?"

He frowned. "You already know. I told you I'm fine."

"That is not what I meant." Rook said exasperated and rubbed his forehead. "You could hear me while you were unconscious, could you not? Or else how would you know what I was wondering when you came through the door."

Ben sighed. "I.. I didn't want to talk about it, but I guess I have to now. While I was unconscious, Paradox showed up and-"

"Paradox? As that time traveler, you have explained to me on several occasions?" Rook interrupted.

He nodded. "The exact guy. He said I fulfilled my destiny of defeating Vilgax and gave me a choice: either to continue living or end my life there. And before you interrupt me, you're probably thinking why didn't I just make my choice automatically of living? There were alot of things I was debating about but in the end I came back.. for you."

Rook opened his mouth to argue but quickly shut it. He didn't want to ruin their night with a pointless fight. Though it bothered him that Ben would have so many things to think about before returning back, he could slightly understand where he was coming from.

He only managed to sigh and steal a kiss from his partner. "I am glad you have returned. I have missed you very much."

"I can tell." He grinned back and wrapped his arms around the Revonnahgander's chest. "I almost forgot how you felt."

Rook just purred in response.

* * *

It wasn't til a month later that Ben was released from Dr. Sylleis's care into the world. It had been a long and difficult ride to recovery, but he couldn't be anymore grateful for all the accomplishments he was able to make. Months ago he couldn't even walk on his own feet without falling and now he was as strong as ever. Rook, of course, was the main person to help him through out the entire time, with the occasional help from his parents.

But while he was recovering, Max, Kevin and Gwen were trying to round up survivors throughout the city of Bellwood and rebuild it back. When it was announced to the public that the depraved Vilgax had been defeated by Ben Tennyson, the entire universe had cheered. The earth was the happiest however. When they revealed the city was to be cleaned up from the extensive damage, many others joined and began to reconstruct together. People began arrived so quickly like swarms of bees and nobody could believe it.

The trio had purposely not revealed any facts on the new city of Bellwood to Ben. It was to be a dedication for saving the entire earth after all.

Dr. Sylleis smiled and checked the final box on Ben's checkup. "Well it seems to me, Mr. Tennyson, that you're perfectly healthy. We have nothing to hold you for anymore. You've been making such miraculous improvements and I'm very proud of you."

Ben was nearly jumping in excitement. He had been waiting for this day for months when he would finally be released from any medical help. It brought him joy when he began to cross of the days til his final appointment. Even Rook could sense his change of spirit.

"Congratulations Ben." Rook cheered and delivered him a passionate kiss. Ben equally kissed back as he hugged him tight. Once they separated, Rook grabbed onto Ben's hand and pulled him towards the door. "Come, I have something to show you."

The teen didn't seem to agree nor decline as he was tugged to the door to a small and wore down tandem bike. His face shrived up in confusion as Rook climbed onto the front seat, automatically placing a helmet on. "Are you coming?"

"Uh.. yeah." He managed to say before climbing into the seat behind him and putting on his own helmet. The Revonnahgander must of put a lot of thought into it when Ben recognized his helmet was customized for him. It was decorated with a neutral green and a large black '10' right in the middle of it. He smiled at the gesture and pedaled when he realized Rook was already taking off.

As they pedaled to untold destination, Ben began to admire how developed Undertown was becoming. Previous citizens had returned to the abandoned city, bringing prosperity back. Many waved at him in respect and thanks and Ben just simply waved back. Soon they rode outside, into the city of the newly restored Bellwood.

It didn't take long for them to ride to the center of Downtown Bellwood. Once they arrived, Ben was utterly shocked at what he saw. It certainly didn't seem mundane. The entire section of the city was completely rebuilt back to normal, with everything looking so angelic. It seemed so futuristic at the same time and he was just lost for words to form.

"You.. You didn't do this. No way you could have done this in a month." Ben whispered, continuing to soak in what sumptuous things he was looking at.

"Of course I could not have done _this_ in a month." Rook chuckled. "They did."

On cue, Max, Gwen and Kevin appeared, with many other guests behind them. They looked extremely proud of their work and hugged the surprised teen hard.

"You made it!" Gwen congratulated and held onto his shoulders. "I knew you'd do it. I'm guessing you're pretty surprised at all of this."

Ben looked slightly offended. "Slightly surprised? Dude, I'm amazed at all this. This would be a cool scene for Sumo Slammers too."

"Enough with the sumos." Kevin interrupted. "We've got something even cooler to show you. It was pretty expensive, even with the cost of rebuilding the city, but everyone in the city chipped in and agreed this should be made for you. Thanks for saving us Tennyson." He grinned and nodded at an unknown man, who pulled off the sheet to a large covered object. When it was displayed, Ben nearly fainted at the sight.

It was a large statue of him raising his omnitrix for the world to see. It was obviously expensive with all it's features being delineated and it looked to be made of marble, which was already more pricey than if it was made of plain metal.

He covered his mouth and fell to his knees from the well-planned revelation. Rook noticed this and gently assisted him to his feet, before kissing away his small tears. "Ben, without you, we would have been doomed. We all owe you our lives for protecting us and nearly sacrificing yourself in the process. We commendate this statue to you for everything you've ever done."

Ben just tackled his partner in a large hug, whispering thanks over and over again. "Thank you, Rook. Thank you."

From then on, the city was expanding rapidly from the outside help of nearby towns and the government. Citizens also chipped in a little and the expense of the entire project was completed within months of starting.

Gwen's parents returned from their temporary stay on Anodine and had eagerly hugged everyone, but most especially their daughter. Their house had thankfully been untouched during the reign of Vilgax but that wasn't to say with Ben's home. It had been completely demolished as if a fist had slammed into it several times. Sandra, however, felt some relief. Because many citizens decided to pay Ben's parents for all that their son had done, they had enough money to buy a large house.. 3 times their original. They could scrap up to buy brand new furniture, clothes, and accessories for the new house.

Ben however wasn't feeling the giddy side of it. He felt guilty.

He had been the one that had caused suffering to everyone on earth, especially the citizens of Bellwood. Many people died because of Vilgax trying to get to him. If it wasn't for him, none of this wouldn't have happened. He wouldn't have so many deaths on his hands and nobody would be spending their money on him. It was like he was being rewarded for causing so many deaths to occur simultaneously.

But Rook wasn't gullible to know that something wasn't wrong. He could tell once he had showed Ben that statue that had been dedicated to himself. He had been distant and especially quiet during the city's time of need.

At one point, he couldn't take the insane quietness anymore and decided to visit Ben personally at their new home. Sandra wasn't very surprised to see him, though she was very excited. She glanced towards the ceiling to the new room her son was at. "Go ahead upstairs. He'll be in his room. But if he's not, he might be on the roof. That's been his thinking place ever since we've moved in."

Rook nodded and thanked her but wasted no time to climb up the stairs towards Ben's room. Just as she had said, he was missing but the window was propped open all the way. He frowned and stuck his head outside, only to see a green light illuminating from the distance. He took a breath and jumped out the window and began to climb towards the source of light. And thankfully Ben was there, fiddling with his omnitrix.

"Ben!"

The teen turned around and forced a smile. "Hey Rook. You didn't tell me you were coming over. We can go back to my room if you want."

"No that is fine Ben. I just wanted to visit you. We have not been seeing each other much since you were released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago." Rook mumbled, scratching his palms nervously.

Ben shrugged. "I guess so. Sorry if I've been distant lately. I just can't focus on anything ever since.."

"Since when?" He encouraged.

The teen sighed and flung himself back so he was laying on the roof. "I just don't know. I haven't been feeling good."

"Ben." Rook grabbed onto the teen's hand and looked him straight in the eye. "I know what you are feeling. I can understand, but you need to understand something else. None of his was your fault. You were trying to be the hero. Whatever Vilgax did was not your fault. He was the monster. He deserved to die. You did not and I am glad you are still here.. with me." He smiled softly and hugged the teen hard. "I hope you can understand that. I just came to tell you that."

"Thanks Rook." Ben whispered softly. "I just can't help but think it's my fault. After all I was the one that caused this."

Rook frowned. "Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, you are the most stubborn boy I haveever met." He kissed the boy's cheek softly. "But you are the greatest hero I've ever met."

Ben chuckled. "I'm the only hero you've ever really met."

"Exactly."

Rook hugged his boyfriend hard and tugged on his sleeve. "Now let us get going. I heard Mr. Smoothy's have opened their doors for the first time since Bellwood's new construction. It would be their great honor, if you would be their first customer."

The teen reluctantly smiled and followed after him, heading outside towards the familiar Proto-Truk. Somehow that piece of technology had been unaffected by the large change within a year, not that the omnitrix wielder was complaining. He had missed this vehicle the most.

Ben grinned when he heard Rook whisper, "I bet I can drink more smoothies than you. Care to wager?"

"You're so on dude," And they took off.

* * *

FINALLY IT'S DONE! You wouldn't believe how long this story took to plan, create, and revise. It took a quite a long time but I'm proud to say this might be one of my best works..

I decided to keep this entire story as a whole and not split it up into separate chapters. I probably won't make a sequel in the future too.

Thank you for your continued support!

~Tortoro15


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